Best Friends Forever
by theperksofbeinganauthor
Summary: After an eventful journey, Dawn returns home. She runs into Barry, Kenny, and Lucas. Glad to be united with her childhood friends, she's met with another surprise. Dawn/Kenny! Penguinshipping.
1. Prologue

_Happy reading guise! To my new readers, this is originally the prequel to Best Friends Forever, as you may have recognized, but I decided to change it as the prologue instead. No other major differences... it just means that now, I have to change all the chapters again._

_Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its contents._

_[I'm so sorry. Today, I skimmed through my story very quickly and tried to catch mistakes, and I found at least 10 typos. I edited some sentences and a few words that have to do with grammar – especially in the beginning because I didn't have the spell check thingy. I sometimes type fast and I don't realize that I'm making mistakes. Hopefully there aren't any more major mistakes…]_

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Prologue**

* * *

Dawn looked back at her house before hopping into her mom's car. Today's her first day attending the Nursery School in the far end of Twinleaf Town. Of course, like most people, they were either nervous or excited - not knowing what's in store for them, or what's going to happen on their first day. For Dawn, it was a mixture of both. She was very excited to meet new people and finally get a chance to go to school, but she was also nervous if she would get along or if her classmates will like her or not. She nervously looked out the window as they passed by trees and buildings which all looked like a blur. She has lived in Twinleaf Town her whole life, but she's never actually _seen_this nursery school since she lived a good distance away from it. It was also the ONLY nursery school in Twinleaf (since Twinleaf Town doesn't have that many people) and everyone in Twinleaf must attend it. It was a big school for just preschoolers, and Dawn liked that idea.

She was looking forward to meeting new people and friends since she has not known anybody other than her own family and never had friends. She mostly followed her twin brother Lucas everywhere since she doesn't have anyone else to play with or talk to. The only person she has known who's not a family member is Barry, but he mostly hangs out with Lucas. _'If I don't make any friends, I can always hang out with Lucas and Barry. But I hope that's not the case. I want to make friends of my own and play with my friends. Being with Lucas and Barry's boring sometimes, no offense to them. All they ever talk about is Pokémon or weird things I don't know about,'_Dawn thought with a sigh. Lucas told her continuously that she had nothing to worry about, but that didn't help ease her worries at all.

"Hey Lucas, are you nervous?" Dawn anxiously asked.

"Not really... what about you?" Lucas replied casually.

She admitted, "A b-bit."

Lucas looked over to his sister and gave her a friendly smile. "Well, there is nothing _to_worry about. Just take a deep breath. Everything will be okay. If you're worried about something, other than the first day of school, then let me know, 'kay?"

"Thanks Lucas! You're the best." He simply smiled but didn't reply. As much as she wanted to believe his words, she was still unsure. She took deep breaths, as Lucas had suggested, but she still felt a bit quivery.

Johanna, Lucas and Dawn's mom, stopped the car suddenly. They both looked out to see that they've arrived at the school. They've arrived at Twinleaf Nursery School. "Now you two, don't get into trouble on the first day okay? Behave guys."

"No need to worry mom! Everything's going to be fine!" said Dawn.

Johanna gave her an uneasy look before saying, "And that's when I worry the most."

Lucas just looked at his mom and laughed to himself softly. "Well, let's go Lucas; bye Mom!" Dawn called out as she grabbed her backpack and opened the door. She quickly slipped out and Lucas wasted no time mirroring her moves. Lucas stopped halfway.

"Oh and Mom," Lucas said.

"Mn?" Johanna looked over her shoulder to face her son.

"I was wondering..." he began as he watched Dawn. She stood on the opposite side of the car - waiting for him. He waited until Dawn turned away before whispering something to his mom. She nodded silently and smiled. Lucas grinned before joining Dawn and walking towards the school.

Dawn watched as her mom drove away, and asked, "Why couldn't she come with us and take us to our rooms?"

"You know as well as I do that she's busy. Besides, I know where to go, trust me." Dawn looked at Lucas to see him smiling encouragingly at her.

She then questioned, "Wait, why did you take so long before?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Lucas said innocently.

Dawn huffed. "Of course you do!"

"It's nothing you should concern yourself with little sister..."

"I'm only five minutes younger," she mumbled.

"And five minutes younger is what makes me your older brother!" Lucas explained proudly in his as-a-matter-of-fact tone. She pouted as she tugged Lucas's arm with her hand.

"Meanie!"

Lucas chuckled at her behavior. He sighed in relief; even though his sister has very good memory, she tends to forget about things once you go on and talk about something else. Usually he would be pretty irritated, but not today.

He led her into the classroom. Fortunately for a nervous Dawn, Lucas was in the same class as her so there were less things for her to be worried about. Once they arrived in the classroom, they looked around - filled with wonder and excitement. She was quite curious, looking around the lightly lit classroom. The walls were bare, with no papers hanging from it and all that was visible was the light blue wallpaper. The only things hanging from the walls were rules and posters posted in front of the room. In the middle of the room is a big, light green rug and desks neatly aligned around the rug. "Woooow..." Dawn said to herself. This was her first time in a classroom and she couldn't help but feel amazed.

Not realizing that she had said that aloud, the teacher couldn't help but laugh to herself. Dawn blushed in embarrassment once she finally figured out she had said that aloud. "You must be Lucas and Dawn," the teacher told them. "By the way, my name is Ms. Jun."

"How did you know?" Dawn questioned.

"Well, we're probably the only twins in her class, and we're pretty identical," Lucas answered proudly, although he muttered the last part to Dawn. "Am I correct?"

"My you're a smart one!" the mid aged teacher exclaimed.

He thanked her quietly, as Dawn began to grip her brother's hand tighter. She seemed to have been a bit tenser, and pretty nervous around her. _'She's never been good around adults, especially ones she's never really known – otherwise known as strangers.'_

Ms. Jun beamed slyly at them before turning away briskly. She sat down at her desk. Without looking back up once, she said, "Why don't you two go out and play? There's still five more minutes until class begins."

Before Dawn could answer, Lucas interrupted her promptly. "Oh, no thank you. I'm just waiting for a friend. My sister and I can just wait here for him."

"Okay then. Feel free to stay here until class begins," she replied in a sweet voice before shuffling through her papers.

Dawn nodded as Lucas led her to one of the desks and sat down. Dawn copied him and sat in the seat next to him. She let go of Lucas's hand gently and set her hands on her lap apprehensively.

"I know you're nervous Dawn, but why can't you loosen up and try to enjoy the day?"

"You're right Lucas! No need to worry right?"

He just stared at her. Usually he would've argued against it, but he decided against it. "Okay then."

Pretty soon, class started and Lucas's best friend Barry arrived just a second before the bell rung. Dawn remembered him mutter something that sounded like "I overslept" and rushed to a desk. Ms. Jun rearranged the seating a minute later. Dawn was seated next to a girl named Leona and Lucas was seated next to Barry. Afterwards, Ms. Jun began explaining the rules and how everything works. Dawn only paid half of her attention towards Ms. Jun as she casually listened to Lucas and Barry's whispered conversation from a couple desks away.

During recess, she effortlessly listened to Lucas and Barry arguing about something that had to do about Pokémon while she sat nearby on the grass.

She sighed, oblivious to the fact that someone else joined her.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

Dawn looked to her right. This was the first time she felt visible and living to all of her other classmates. Dawn remembered her as Leona, the girl who sat next to her in class; she had brown hair and an outfit similar to hers (since they had uniforms). "No, I don't mind at all."

"Thank you Dawn. You seemed pretty lonely here, why aren't you playing like everyone else?" she inquired.

"I don't have friends... and besides, I have nothing to do."

"Hey how about you join me on the swings? I don't have any friends either," Leona said.

Dawn looked at the swings without any hesitations. Her lips tugged upward, forming a wide smile. "I'd love to."

After playing and enjoying themselves on the swings, everyone rushed back to their respective classrooms once the bell rung. Dawn felt a whole lot better. And for the first time that day, she felt a whole lot better and didn't feel as if she didn't need to hold Lucas's hand, every step of the way. Maybe she was going to make it through the first day of school all by herself.

* * *

After school, Leona and Dawn departed, with a happy smile from both of their faces. "I see you made a new friend," her brother noticed.

Dawn turned around to face Lucas and Barry. "Oh yeah, her name's Leona; she's really nice!"

They both chuckled at her enthusiasm. Barry then said, "Lucas, what are you waiting for?" They were currently in front of the school and Lucas just stood there calmly while Barry and Dawn were trying to figure out what was going on.

"I'm waiting for Mom," he simply replied.

"Well of course he's waiting for Mom," Dawn said as if it was the most obvious thing in the looked at her then to Lucas.

"She doesn't know does she?"

"Nope," Lucas responded quietly.

Dawn demanded, "Know what?"

"Nothing," the two boys chimed, a bit surprised.

Dawn raised her eyebrows and then frowned. "COME ON I KNOW YOU'RE HIDING SOMETHING!"

"Hiding what?" Barry inquired innocently.

"Eh?"

"What are you talking about?"

"You're confusing."

"Good."

"Wha?"

Before Lucas could say anything back, he spotted his mom's car pulling up into one of the parkings. "HEY LUCAS, DAWN, BARRY! Ready to go?"

Dawn's mom called out.

They all nodded and jumped into the back seats her light blue car. Dawn went in first, then Lucas, and last was Barry, closing the door with a bit of trouble.

After a few minutes in the car, Dawn looked outside the window and scanned the area around her. "Mom, this doesn't look like the way home," Dawn pointed out.

"Of course not sweetie."

"Then where are we going?" Dawn questioned.

Johanna frowned a bit before muttering, "Lucas didn't tell you did he?"

"SO YOU GUYS WERE HIDING SOMETHING FROM ME!" Dawn exclaimed, pointing a finger accusingly at Lucas and Barry.

"It's best left as a surprise," Lucas said absentmindedly.

"Yeah," Barry agreed.

Dawn opened her mouth to retort, but then closed her mouth again. She couldn't win this argument even if she tried. Lucas would then counter it somehow and he will have Barry to back him up again.

Lucas sat in his seat, staring off into the distance calmly, with a hint of excitement in his expression.

Dawn sighed impatiently. She knew that no matter how curious she got, she knew she would never get any information out due to her brother's stubbornness.

She tried figuring out why this route looked so familiar and beautiful, but despite how hard she tried, she couldn't remember. The ride continued silently - but not for long. Dawn felt Barry twitching and bouncing up and down in his seat. Even though they were across from each other, it really wasn't hard to tell. Every once in a while, she would feel the seat under bounce and couldn't help but feel sorry for Barry. She knew him long enough to know that Barry doesn't like it when the atmosphere around him turns quiet... and just like she is, he's also very impatient. She couldn't exactly figure out if Barry was feeling awkward of the silence in the car or if he couldn't wait to get there. She didn't want to turn to him and ask, that'll make things weirder. Trying to survive the car ride with curiosity, Dawn remained quiet, feeling the car shake every few seconds.

Five minutes later, they arrived at their destination. Dawn was running out of patience. She looked around, and that's when she realized where this place is. Her mom, under Lucas's request, had taken her to Lake Verity. It was _beyond_beautiful from the last time she remembered it - which was around a year ago. There wasn't a speck of trash anywhere. The trees were growing and stretching as tall as they possibly can... the wind was blowing calmly and brushing tenderly on her skin... the lake - in the middle - was absolutely wonderful. The lake's water is crystal clear with sunlight reflecting calmly through the water and throughout the lake itself. The sun shone brightly, yet letting just a bit of sunlight to pass through the clearing of the tall trees for wildlife to survive.

When Johanna set everything up (blankets, food, etc), Dawn could hear Lucas and Barry running around behind her while she was admiring the lake. She loved nature, and loved spending time outside when she had something troubling her to calm her down or whenever she has a chance. _'Lucas,'_she thought, _'must have done this on purpose, knowing that I haven't been here in a long time. Also, he knows that I love this place as long as she could remember... I owe Lucas one, even though I'm quite mad he didn't tell me in the beginning.'_With no further complaints or thoughts, she peered into the distance, smiling lightly.

After a while, Dawn looked around pleasantly. She saw Lucas and Barry poking somewhere around the other side of the woods, barely in sight. They were looking at this unknown Pokémon that Dawn didn't know the name of. Unlike Dawn, Lucas seemed to know this Pokémon pretty well, playing with it with Barry peacefully. Dawn turned her attention away from the boys and towards her mom, who has having trouble with the red and white picnic blanket.

Taking small, slow steps, she approached her mom. Johanna smiled at her daughter's appearance and asked, "Enjoying yourself now?"

Dawn returned her smile briskly before picking up a corner of the checkered picnic blanket and helped her mom spread it out.

"Hey Mom?" she questioned. "Can I walk around?"

Johanna frowned, looked worryingly. "I guess it is okay... just don't wander off too far or get lost. And come back soon!"

Dawn set down her corner of the blanket and walked up to her mom. "Thanks Mom! And I won't. No need to worry right?" Dawn chirped.

Without another word, she set off. Johanna sighed to herself. "And that's when I worry the most..."

And so, Dawn quickly set off on her "adventure" around the area of Lake Verity

Effortlessly, she let herself wander around the forest. She knew her way around pretty well, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be any precautions. She scanned the area around her with her eyes and made a mental note of the surroundings. Dawn, unlike other people in her family, has very good memory and is able to remember lots of things really well. Without paying any attention to the ground beneath her, she tripped on a vine, and before you know it, she stumbled into a green web of vines and mosses in between two trees. She could move around a bit but didn't seem to be able to get out; struggling to get out, she tried pulling some vines away, but the more she moved around, the more tangled in it she seemed to get. Desperately, Dawn needed someone's help. Her mom, Lucas, and Barry were too far away to hear her scream, but it's worth a shot. Before she got a chance to yell out, she was interrupted by someone else.

"Are you okay?" Dawn turned around and through the corners of her eye (she couldn't see or turn that much since the vines weren't really being very helpful at the moment), she saw a boy, about her age, with brown hair and black eyes.

She wanted to retort with 'Do I look okay?' but then decided against it. "Yeah, but a little help would be nice."

"Sure thing," he replied. He walked towards her normally before saying, "By the way, my name's Kenny."

"Nice to meet you Kenny, I'm Dawn," she introduced.

Kenny eyed the vines for a while, looking around and finally grinning. "I got a way."

"Really?" Dawn asked happily.

"Would I lie to you?" Kenny inquired teasingly, preoccupied with the vines engulfing Dawn. He tugged on one of the strongest vines and pulled it over her head and around her arm.

Dawn looked at him while he worked. "I don't even know you," she pointed out.

"But I know you," he said simply.

Successfully, he finally tugged the vine out of the way and freed Dawn's right arm. He observed the vines once more and then snapped another vine in half. Then, he grabbed hold of another vine and twisted it clockwise before pulling it downward. Dawn - seeing her chance - seized her arm away from the vines like poison. She looked back at her arm and then frowned. There were red circular markings on her skin, signaling the places where her blood circulation is cut off. Kenny smiled to himself for his accomplishment and then turned his attention back to Dawn. Dawn just looked up at him and returned his smile gracefully. "Thank you. I need to go back. My mom will be worried if I went too long." Dawn began walking back towards the lake to meet up with her mom, brother, and Barry; Kenny followed along.

"You're welcome. And I'll walk with you."

"Um, if you don't mind me asking, can you tell me how much you know about me? Since you know... you told me that you knew me... but I don't know... and-"

Kenny cut her off instantly. "You talk a lot," he commented absentmindedly. "Anyways, I don't mind. I know that you live with your mom, Johanna, and your brother, Lucas. I know that you live next to my house. I know that you don't really talk to other people around your age much. I know that you're friends with Barry but not very close. I know that you have a tendency to be reckless-"

"Hey! But how do you know all this?" Dawn interrogated. "Wait- are you a stalker?"

Kenny looked at her strangely before chuckling to himself. "No, although I am observant; I notice a lot of things around me. Anyways, I'll continue. I know you love and care about your brother very much. I know that you are enthusiastic at times. I know that you love coordinating and hope to be like your mom someday. I know that you want to be a Top Coordinator when you're older. I know that we go to the same Nursery School-"

"That's common sense! You know as well as I do that there's only one Nursery School throughout Twinleaf Town!" Dawn exclaimed. She took a glance around her, seeing that they were heading back the right way.

"I know, but I was also going to add that we're also in the same class if you hadn't interrupted," Kenny said a bit impatiently, "and that we're the same age. Did you ever think that I might be older?"

"Oh, we're in the same class?" Dawn asked. She quickly added, "Oh, never thought about _that_. You look like you're my age... that's why."

Kenny mentally smacked himself. "I know all this stuff about you yet you seem to know nothing about me... how sad." Kenny fake pouted, causing Dawn to laugh.

"Well, I have all the time in the world to figure out more about you." Dawn and Kenny could see the lake in the distance. _'My sense of directions never seems to fail me...'_

Kenny seemed to have noticed that they have arrived at their destination. "Really?"

"Really," Dawn assured. "Oh, and for your information, I do know something about you, now." Dawn stopped by the nearest tree and turned to face Kenny.

"And what may that be?" Kenny challenged.

Dawn beamed brightly. "I know that you're my friend."

Without another word, Dawn rushed off to meet up with her mom, giggling to herself in the process. Kenny couldn't help but smile to himself. "I'll see you tomorrow!" he called out to her; it was unknown if she had heard him or not since she did not turn around, but there was one thing that Kenny was certain of - he and Dawn would become great friends.

_'I guess Lucas is right - I need to listen to him more often - there really was really nothing to worry about.'_

* * *

_Yay! Another chapter down... and so many more to come._

_I know that Lucas and Dawn aren't really brother/sister but since I play the games that contain them (Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum), there was a point when I get really frustrated and confused since Dawn and Lucas are both Johanna's children depending on whether you're a girl or boy. I know, that for each game version, this is true, but while I thought about it for a moment, considering Lucas and Dawn TECHNICALLY having the same mom, that they should be twins. Besides, I always loved Lucas and Dawn's brother/sister relationship. I hope this fact doesn't bother any of you... I mean I think it's nicer if they were brother and sister._

_One more order of business... PWEASE REVIEW! Reviews will be greatly appreciated. PLEASE REVIEW!_

_Loving you all dearly,_

_Lily(:_


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello everyone! The sequel to _Dawn's First Day of Nursery School_ is finally here, as promised! Anyways, you don't have to read the prequel to understand _Best Friends Forever _but I recommend you do to get the general background. I hope you enjoy reading this story! Penguinshipping included of course.**

**Kenny: What? Why is Penguinshipping included?**

**Dawn: Yes, why?**

**Me: Because that's the whole point of the story genius.**

**Kenny: Why can't you do something else?**

**Me: Oh be quiet, we all know you like Dawn. Just admit it.**

**Kenny: Pft, me like Dawn? As if!**

**Me: Keep telling yourself that. Besides, we all know Dawn likes you too.**

**Dawn: I don't like Kenny... well of course I do. But I like him as a friend.**

**Kenny: Yeah way to tell her Dee-Dee!**

**Dawn: Don't call me Dee-Dee!**

**Me: These two are clueless... very unfortunate. *sigh***

**Kenny: Why not _Dee-Dee?_**

**Dawn: You know exactly why! And Kenny?**

**Kenny: Yes?**

**Dawn: *smacks Kenny on his head and runs off***

**Kenny: Hey! *runs after Dawn***

**Me: While these two love birds are flirting with one another, I'll get down to more serious things and do the disclaimer. PkmnLuver292 does not own Pokemon. If I did, Dawn and Kenny wouldn't be so clueless and be together already.**

**Kenny & Dawn: We are not love birds!**

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**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 1**

* * *

Two years have passed since she first started her journey to become Top Coordinator, and another year has passed since she was last in Twinleaf Town. Dawn walked through Route 201 and headed towards Twinleaf Town. Dawn smiled brightly, looking at the area that surrounded her. Green trees growing everlasting one after another, covering the sun's light well. Only bits of sunlight were able to pass through the evergreen jungle of grass and trees. She walked rapidly home; she couldn't control her excitement. She's finally going home and actually staying there for some time before leaving again. Also, she's finally going to see her mom again and other people who are back from their journeys. Who knows who's she's going to see again. There were tons of townspeople she was looking forward to meet, if they were there.

With one last thought, she quickened her pace a bit. She was almost there; fortunately for Dawn, she didn't have to walk that much. She only had to walk to Twinleaf Town from Canalave City. It wasn't that far of a journey, but she was exhausted.

A couple minutes later, she immediately saw the first sign of Twinleaf Town. She smiled and, despite her exhaustion, rushed towards the small town at the edge of Sinnoh. Smiling brightly and panting, she stood on the hill and looked down at her hometown. _'It was just the way she remembered it...' _she thought happily. After observing the town from high above, she ventured down and entered the town.

Smelling the wonderful scent of fresh air, Dawn inhaled deeply and closed her eyes briefly for a moment. She let her mind wander off a bit as she tried recalling all the times she has spent in Twinleaf when she was younger. Those were the days when she didn't have to worry about anything in particular or how to gain the title of Top Coordinator like her mom has done several years back. Those were the days - young and carefree. And then-

"WATCH OUT!"

**CRASH!**

"What where you're going will you?" someone had bellowed angrily.

She felt herself crashing into someone, or something. She was knocked off her feet and flew a couple inches backwards, bracing herself for the impact that came as she fell against the concrete sidewalk. She felt pain spread through her body, but it quickly disappeared. "Ow, what was that for?" Dawn yelled out loud, not knowing who she had bumped into. Laying across the floor with her legs in front of her, and her elbows supporting her upward, she opened her eyes and blinked a couple times to see whether or not her eyes have been playing tricks on her. Fortunately for her, they weren't. In front of her were her friends Kenny and Barry lying on the floor, moaning in pain. _'We must've came from three different directions and crashed without knowing. I was closing my eyes, thinking. I'm pretty sure Kenny and Barry were running somewhere because if they weren't, I wouldn't have landed that hard on the ground... but speaking of which, why are they all here?' _Dawn thought.

Barry and Kenny seemed to have regained composure... seeing that they were getting up and dusting themselves off. Barry looked around and saw Dawn. "Oh I didn't know you were here Dawn," Barry stated.

Kenny looked up confusingly before smiling. "Me neither."

"Barry, could you _please _be careful next time?" Dawn snapped.

"Hey you were in the way!" Barry retorted.

"Guys calm down," said Kenny in a hushing tone.

Dawn sighed. "Fine, but why are you guys in a rush?" Kenny and Barry seemed to have noticed Dawn was still on the floor and held a hand out to her. She took hold of both of their hands and pulled herself up. Dusting herself off, she looked up at them smiling.

"Running to meet Lucas," Barry said.

Kenny nodded, as if saying that he was here for the same reason. "Oh," Dawn replied, still processing the information. "Oh! Lucas is here?"

"Yes, he just came back," Kenny said in his as-a-matter-of-fact-tone.

"When?"

"Today."

"Oh."

"Anyways, do you want to go see him or not?" Barry inquired shortly afterwards.

"Oh, of course!" Dawn answered.

Barry yelled, "Then let's go! I'm going to fine you guys if you don't hurry up!" And with that, he took off into the distance, running at top speed. In a quick second, he was out of sight. Kenny looked back at Dawn and then in the direction that Barry ran towards.

"Come on, let's go. Unless you want to receive a fine," Kenny added teasingly.

Dawn laughed quietly. "Yeah let's go. But even after all these years, I still don't know whether he's messing around or telling the truth about fining others." She then began walking along side Kenny, still thinking about that thought.

"I don't either, but I doubt he does mean it. First of all-"

Dawn interrupted, "... he's Barry and never serious. Second of all, if he was serious about all that, then we all, his friends, would be broke and he would be really rich." Kenny turned to look at her and then back at the sidewalk.

Kenny spoke calmly, leaning down towards her a bit. "You stole my idea."

"I did not! I just always seem to have the same ideas as you do."

He nodded. "That _is _true."

"Of course it is," Dawn said with a bright smile plastered on her face. "Why is Barry so excited?"

Kenny shrugged, mostly to himself, before saying, "Well, he hasn't seen his best friend in a while and I'm pretty sure he's just very excited to see Lucas. I'm pretty sure you are too. And with all the stuff going on in Twinleaf, who wouldn't be excited. I mean, even I'm excited." Kenny converted his eyes from Dawn to the floor beneath him. It was cracked slightly in several places and divided into small foot by foot squares. Textured with a smooth cream color, there laid dark blue and black pebbles on the lying on the floor.

"Of course I'm excited to see him," Dawn said. "But what's going on in Twinleaf?"

He looked at her in disbelief before looking at the nearest tree. "You mean you don't know?"

"I just came back a half an hour ago. How am I supposed to know?"

"But almost everybody knows!"

Dawn replied a bit impatiently, "Don't know what?" She hated it when people hid things from her. It's just like with Barry and Lucas sometimes... but this time, it's her best friend who is keeping something away from her.

"I really cannot believe you do not know. It's the 100th Anniversary of Twinleaf Town so we're all getting together to celebrate and prepare for it. Everyone's so excited and all."

"Wha?"

Kenny explained, "It has been a hundred years since Twinleaf Town has been founded and we're going to plan a great festival and feast for it. The problem is, we only have three days to prepare because some guy miscalculated the days and thought it was next month, and people have been procrastinating. The real planning starts later today. The last few days have just been plans and all of that. I've just been here and there with Barry."

"Oh," was all Dawn said.

Dawn surveyed Kenny a bit and briskly averted her attention from Kenny, afraid of being caught staring at him._ 'He seems to be acting differently today. I can tell, but I can't exactly put my finger on the reason exactly.'_

She nervously looked at the trees behind him, making an excuse to take a glance and Kenny every once in a while. They walked on in silence, not saying anything much. After a few minutes, they finally reached their destination. Dawn decided to run up to Barry and see what's going on; Kenny followed without a word.

"Is he here yet?" Dawn asked.

"Nooo! And I'll fine him if he's late," Barry yelled quickly.

"But Lucas is never late..."

"True," Kenny agreed. He looked down at his Poketch. "Besides, he said he's coming at 10:00, and it's only 9:50. We're early."

Barry frowned and pointed a finger at Kenny, and then at Dawn. "DON'T TEAM UP ON ME! I'LL FINE YOU BOTH FOR THAT!"

Dawn laughed a bit to herself while Kenny frowned. "Anyways, here he is!" she exclaimed excitedly at the sight of Lucas.

Kenny and Barry looked in the direction she was indicating and a grin spread through both of their faces. Lucas walked up to them quickly and gave them what they all called a "manly hug." Dawn rolled her eyes at them before rushing up to Lucas and gave him a hug too. Lucas gladly returned it but let go immediately afterwards.

"So, now that we're all reunited again, what do you want to do?"

"Um, if you don't mind, can I go home and drop off my stuff first? I don't want to carry it around," Dawn said.

Lucas and Kenny nodded, but Barry was running out of patience. Nevertheless, he agreed. And so, they set off in the direction of Dawn's house. They walked in pairs. Kenny and Dawn in back, walking quietly; Lucas and Barry, however, were quickly engaged in a discussion about Pokémon attacks; Lucas and Barry were walking slightly faster than them. Meanwhile, Dawn couldn't help but continue to wonder why Kenny was being so quiet. He's usually very talkative, especially around her, always picking a random conversation with her. But today, he was being unusually silent.

Dawn sighed; reluctantly, she gave up. _'That's none of my concern right now…'_ Dawn took into consideration.

Inaudibly, Kenny and Dawn followed Lucas and Barry to her house. The walk was no more than five minutes. While they reached the final bend, she walked ahead of Barry and Lucas and led the group of boys. She happily was walking happily – practically skipping – towards the front gate. She waited until Kenny, Lucas, and Barry caught up with her before knocking on the door keenly three times. By now, they all had their attention towards the door, waiting for it to open any moment.

The door creaked open a bit and somebody's head stuck out, greeting them all. She was expecting her mom to open the door and welcome them all home, but it wasn't her mom. Before she could say anything, Barry beat her to it.

"DAD?"

* * *

**Me: I finally finished with the prologue! Sorry it's as bit short, but this is just the beginning. (:**

**Kenny:*imaginary applause***

**Me: Pft, so mean... Anyways, I want to know what you think. Please Review! I feel happy reading them!**

**Dawn: Yes R&R!**

**Me: Things to think about...**

**Dawn: Why was Kenny so quiet and acting strangely?**

**Me: Why is Lucas not as happy to see Dawn as he normally would've felt?**

**Kenny: I was not quiet...**

**Me: *ignores* Anyways, to let you know, Dawn has to deal with two things at once, and the answer to both of those questions will be the causes of them. Just keep those in mind and try to answer.**

**Dawn: Again I say, PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Me: Oh and please vote on my poll... on my profile!**


	3. Chapter 2

**Hey guys!**

**I present to you guys, the second chapter of _Best Friends Forever! _I want to thank those of you who are actually reading past the prologue. And a special thank you to those of you who reviewed. Reviews make me happy and I love you guys. Your words mean so much. You have no idea how much they mean to me. xD By the way, I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit boring to you... it's just random conversations, but it's quite necessary for the development of the story.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 2**

* * *

_The door creaked open a bit and somebody's head stuck out, greeting them all. She was expecting her mom to open the door and welcome them all home, but it wasn't her mom. Before she could say anything, Barry beat her to it._

_"DAD?"_

Dawn could _feel _Barry's eyes widen. "What are you doing here?" Barry continued. Throughout all the years they've known each other, she had never seen him so worried and nervous before. Apparently, neither has Lucas. She wasn't sure why Barry was so surprised, but it doesn't seem like a good thing, especially after looking at the look Barry's dad, Palmer, was giving his son. Dawn, who was in front of everybody (Kenny, Lucas, and Barry) at that point, turned around slowly to see Barry's shrinking figure. _'Something must be up,' _Dawn thought quickly. Lucas – whom Barry always shares information things with – seems to have no clue what's going on either. Dawn gave Kenny a questioning look, but he, too, shrugged.

"I could be asking you the same thing, Barry," Palmer said calmly.

"Er, well you see…"

Palmer continued looking at him, completely ignoring all of Barry's friends, who were giving him weird and confusing looks. "I'm listening." He tapped his foot on the ground in front of him impatiently, expecting an answer from his son.

Barry reached his left arm up and scratched the back of his head. He let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, Dad… umm… Mom said it was unfair to leave me in the house all day, so she let me out…"

"After I specifically told you not to leave under any circumstances, except if it's an emergency," he went on. Dawn could partly understand, why Barry was worried when he saw his dad here, but that still doesn't explain why he cannot leave the house. She made a mental note to herself to ask him later.

Before Barry could reply, a new voice interrupted him. "Well, Palmer, you can't blame him for wanting to leave. Although I do not know your reasons for keeping him locked in the house, I don't think it's fair for the poor fellow. It's not like he snuck out or anything though." They all turned their heads slightly, except for Palmer, who already knew who was there, to see the owner of the voice.

There stood Kaiya, smiling down upon them. Her head was the only thing visible since the rest of her body was covered by Palmer, who covered most of the space in the tiny doorway. "Mom," Kenny said grinning in a ludicrous manner.

She nodded, acknowledging the fact that she heard him. "Give the boy a break, Palmer," she continued.

Palmer sighed in overwhelm. "Fine," he said softly. "Anyways, come in…" He gestured a hand towards the house and stepped aside. Kaiya smiled in triumph as she walked away from the doorway and joined Johanna, who was sitting on the couch looking through papers busily. Kaiya took a seat next to Johanna and returned her attention back the newcomers. Johanna peered over her papers when Palmer closed the door. He then returned to his spot on the couch as well, on the opposite side of Kaiya and Johanna. There were three light blue couches in the living room. Two of them held three people and the last one, in the middle, held two.

"Guys you're home!" Johanna exclaimed. "It took you faster than I thought… I wasn't expecting you until tomorrow." She stood up and engulfed Dawn and Lucas into a tight hug.

"M-Mom, I can't breathe," Lucas complained. Dawn, however, did not care and was just glad to be back home again.

Johanna finally let go and sat back down. "Take a seat…" Barry nervously took sat in the vacant seat next to his dad, afraid he might bite his head off for going out of the house. He kept his distance… just in case. Lucas quickly took the seat next to his mom, leaving Kenny and Dawn sitting alone on the last couch.

"Why are you guys all here?"

"Well, we're preparing for the anniversary celebration, remember?" Kaiya explained.

"Yeah," Kenny replied, since nobody bothered to.

Johanna then said, "We forgot to tell you that Palmer, Kaiya, and I have been chosen to host and take care of most of the things for the festival. It's in a week, counting today. Today has to be our last day planning; tomorrow we have to take action and start setting things up."

"We need all the help we can and everybody has their own thing to worry about. What we have to worry about is setting the stands up, getting food ready, and decorating the place. Will you guys help us out?" Palmer asked. "You guys can just pick whatever area or section you want to do and tell us."

"Yeah!" Barry and Dawn yelled out enthusiastically, earning laughter from everyone in the room.

Lucas just nodded and Kenny let out a stiff, "Sure."

"We're starting tomorrow right?" Dawn questioned.

Johanna nodded. "Why?"

"I just wanted to make sure, that's all," Dawn said reassuringly. "Though, what time do we start tomorrow?"

"We'll start at nine in the morning."

"Oh okay. Mom, I'll be upstairs for a while then I'm going to go somewhere with the guys," Dawn said as she ran upstairs.

"Have fun!" her mom yelled from behind her. Lucas, Kenny, and Barry followed her upstairs as well, without much speech.

Dawn took the lead once more. She turned the corner once she reached the top of the stairs, running at full speed. Finally, she arrived in her room, that she shared with Lucas, and opened the door to find that it was exactly the same since she last left. She smiled to herself before running onto her bed and jumped onto it, flopping on the bed happily. Lucas came in next, chuckling to himself as Dawn bounced on her bed—while on her knees—like a three year old. He walked over to his bed, on the opposite side of the room and sat down, adjusting his blue bed sheets a bit. Kenny and Barry laughed at the sight too. Kenny had taken a seat on the floor near Dawn's bed, leaning against the wooden frame on the side; Barry, unlike Kenny, he sat on Dawn's chair that was near the desk. He spun around to face the rest of the people in the room. Dawn stopped and laid back down on her stomach, looking at the boys in disapproval.

After a while, she finally spoke up. "Well, excuse a girl for being happy after many years of not being in her room."

She rolled onto her back and turned her head to see Kenny looking at her curiously. They made eye contact for what felt like eternity until Barry broke the silence. "Well, what do you guys suppose we should do to help out?" This was the first time he had said something complete since his unexpected encounter with his dad.

"Well, my mom has been telling me how we've been lacking supplies and we need all the supplies we can get," Kenny said. "I think we should go to other people's houses and ask them if they have anything we can use for the festival to donate."

Dawn agreed, "Yeah, but I think we should start with our attic. Mom's always complaining about how much junk there is up there that she's dying to get rid of."

Lucas frowned a bit. "Dawn, the attic is filled with so many things. We can barely find anything. In addition, there's really dusty in there. We'll have to tidy things up a bit in order to find things, you know."

"There's no time like the present to start!" she chirped.

"I have to agree with Dawn on this one," Barry said.

Lucas sighed. "It'll take a long time, but I think it's worth a shot."

She beamed cheerfully. "We got one thing down, and we still have much more preparation plans to go."

"What do you want to do Kenny?" Dawn asked, noticing he was being exceptionally quiet again.

Kenny snapped out of his thoughts. "W-What? Oh, umm, anything's fine with me."

"Is there something wrong?"

"What? No, nothing's wrong. Everything's fine. I'm just… err, thinking about ideas we can use for the celebration," Kenny stammered quickly, a bit _too_ quickly.

"Okay…" she said earnestly, not fully convinced.

"Oh I thought of another idea, Dawn," Lucas declared. "I think we should help the adults with cooking—"

She quickly interrupted, "Just stay away from the stove, Lucas."

"W-What?" Lucas managed to utter out.

Barry explained, "She means you're horrible at cooking and you shouldn't be associated in that section."

"Gee Barry, that's a nice way to put it. I was trying to be a kind little sister here and you're not helping," Dawn said.

Barry shrugged – mostly to himself. "Well I'm just clearing up Lucas's confusion," he said, defending himself.

"You're implying that I'm saying that his cooking is awful!"

"Which is true, by the way," Lucas said, interrupting Barry and Dawn.

Kenny decided to be supportive. "It can't be _that _bad can it?"

"Oh it can," Dawn assured him, "you've just been very lucky that you haven't tasted any of it yet."

"Forget tasting," Barry said hastily, "smelling or even _looking _at it's enough to gross you out!"

Lucas sighed and let himself fall backwards onto the mattress. "Since when did this become a discussion about my cooking? I'm not proud of it or anything…"

"I don't know. Sorry…" Barry and Dawn apologized in unison.

Lucas replied, "It's alright. The cooking stuff is still a big issue though… I don't think Dawn and several others could handle that much work."

Barry nodded. He suggested, "Oh I know! How about we let Kenny help Dawn out, since he's a fabulous cook too?"

"So what do you say Kenny?" Dawn said nudging him with her elbow.

Kenny refused quickly. "No. I'm awful when it comes to cooking…"

"No you're not," Dawn urged. "Come on Kenny!"

"Yeah Kenny, come on."

Exhaling noisily, he agreed. "Fine, I'll do it." Barry, Lucas, and Dawn cheered in victory.

"Food is still going to be a big issue though," Barry commented.

Lucas nodded. "I guess we're going to need more help with food. Not just cooking it, but setting it up and picking up all the ordered food too. I think Barry and I should take care of that, along with his dad while Dawn and Kenny help all the adults in the kitchen."

Kenny and Dawn both agreed, but Kenny was more hesitant. Kenny wasn't very fond of cooking, but he's an easy person to convince.

"What do we do now since we don't need the food until a day prior to the festival? " Dawn asked. "We still need more plans and things to do before we have to worry about food."

Kenny stated, "We can always help out in the stands and set them up."

"Yeah," Barry and Lucas agreed idly.

"So it's settled then?"

"Yup!" Dawn said excitedly.

Silence overfilled the room quickly afterwards. Dawn was busy lying on her bed, looking at each of the boys every once in a while. She kept her eye on Kenny the most, as if she was trying to physically see though Kenny and figure out what's wrong with him. Lucas was on his side, facing the wall. Barry was sitting uncomfortably on the chair, swaying back and forth on it, causing a creaking sound to ring through the room every few seconds. Kenny, now, was slumped against the side of her bed with part of his head slightly bending over the edge of her pink mattress. He looked deep in thought, just how he always seems to be deep in thought ever since she saw him this morning. She sighed, trying to drive herself into thinking about something else. Uninterestedly, she rolled onto her back and set her head on her pillow. She lifted her arm lazily and watched as it came into view; her pink poketch came into view. 12:31, it read. Time must've flown by really quickly—it's either that or they've spent a lot of time doing basically nothing. _'It must be the first one… but it could very well be the second one.' _She watched as the last digit turned from a '1' to a '2' and set her hand down absentmindedly.

"Wah! All this serious talk and quietness is giving me a headache! I want to do something fun already!" Barry complained, jumping up from his chair impatiently. It was as if he was about to explode from silence in the room. Everyone was startled at the sudden outburst by Barry since the room was so quiet before.

Lucas looked from is impatient friend to his sister, and to his sister's friend. "I don't know about you guys, but I agree with Barry. We have been planning and doing nothing today. We still have half the day to kill and we deserve to do something fun right?"

"But I'm too lazy," Dawn whined sitting up on her bed, tugging her bed sheets in the progress.

"How about we do something relaxing then?" Kenny advised.

Lucas looked at him. "What do you have in mind?"

Dawn answered for him swiftly. "Well, how about we go get something to drink, and then we walk around in the park. Come on, we all haven't been to the park in a _loooooong _time!"

"What Dawn says sounds fine to me," Barry said. "Anything is fine than sitting here doing nothing!"

"Alright," Lucas said. He stood up from his bed and stretched a bit. Kenny agreed as well.

Dawn excitedly jumped off her bed, standing next to Kenny. She leaned down and grabbed his hand, jerking him upwards. Because he was pulled by surprise, he was caught of guard and stumbled uneasily on his feet. She gave him an apologetic look and he muttered something under his breath that went unheard and unnoticed. After quickly regaining himself, he shot Dawn a smile.

She returned the smile and let go of his hands slowly and turned around. Lucas and Barry were nowhere to be seen. "Where did they go?" she murmured to herself.

"They left when you turned your back on them," Kenny uttered.

"Come on, let's go." Dawn left in a breeze and Kenny followed her.

Kenny smirked. "Alright, _Dee-Dee_."

"And here I am, thinking hopefully that you would forget to call me that for just one day…" Dawn exasperated. She turned around to shoot Kenny a death glare. Kenny smiled, and walked behind her, wordlessly this time.

They chambered down the stairs carefully—watching their every step—and Dawn searched around for any possible signs of Lucas and Barry. Lucas and Barry, who seemed to have just finished talking with Johanna, walked out the door, with Lucas looking back at Dawn, mentally telling her to hurry up. She nodded and looked in Kenny's direction as she headed out the door as well; she waited until Kenny left before closing the door, not before saying bye to her mom, of course.

* * *

**I'm sorry this was quite boring... I wanted to continue onto their free day, but I decided that if I did, I wouldn't get to finish the other stories I'm writing, and it'll be too long. I had to cut it here to be able to finish this in time and not make it too lengthy. Although I'm a bit sad that this story, in my opinion, is literally going nowhere. Please review, they inspire me to update faster. I promise I'll _try _to make the next chapter interesting and filled with Penguinshipping moments. The next chapter is pretty pointless, but I'm purposely doing it to strengthen the bond of their friendship a bit more since they've been separated for some time.**

**Oh by the way, please vote on my poll. I'm really stuck and don't know what story to write next. Next week, I'll upload that story and of course I'll be updating this story as well. Hopefully with no delay in updating this story, but I also want to work on something else. So please vote!**

**Dawn: Yeah, what she said.**

**Me: Thank you Dawn. Kenny, why can't you be more like Dawn?**

**Kenny: Because I'm not a girl, I don't wear dresses, I don't-**

**Me: *gives Kenny an awkward look* Okkkayyy... ANYWAYS, please vote on the poll!**

**Dawn: Oh and don't forget to R&R if you wanna smack Kenny for being mean to me & the author. But if you don't want to smack Kenny, review anyways!**

**Kenny: What? I'm not mean!**

**Dawn: Suuure you aren't. *sticks tongue out***

**Me: Oh btw, I made a penguinshipping forum the other day... Check it out if you're a penguinshipper. xD**

**Kenny: NOOO! DON'T!**

**Dawn: Yes, DON'T!**

**Me: *smirks* If you're a penguinshipper, you'll check out the forum.**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, I'm back. I was planning on a double update for this story, but unfortunately, I don't think that's going to happen. By the way, sorry for the late update, I didn't have enough time to write it and my computer is being really stupid... so yeah.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 3**

* * *

Locking the door behind her, she happily skipped and occupied the place next to Kenny. He was staring at something invisible in front of them. It seems as if he was deep in thought—just like how he has been all day. _'__Why is that even bothering me? I mean maybe he just doesn't like talking much anymore. There could be a thousand reasons behind his mysterious silence.' _She skeptically decided it would be best if she kept this thought away from her mind as long as possible. Ahead of her, she saw Lucas and Barry unusually quiet too. No conversation struck upon them. Awkward silence...

"Lucas, where _are _we going anyways?" she asked, braking the silence among them. Barry jumped in surprise by the sudden speech within the group.

Barry immediately responded with an answer. "Good question Lucas, where are we going?"

"Instead of getting something to drink, I think we should do something else. Change of plans... we're going to Snorunt's Ice Cream Paradise instead," he replied. "We haven't been in there in a long time—together that is."

Kenny agreed quietly. Upon the arrival at the shop, Dawn looked up to see a store with blue painted walls and a light blue coating on the windows. The little ice cream shop changed its color theme every season and around this time of year, the color theme changed to blue. The only thing that didn't change was the big sign above the shop; there stood a big Snorunt (made of cardboard) holding an big blue ice cream cone above its head. She stood there and smiled briefly before realizing that Lucas and Barry had already slipped into the little shop. Kenny just stood there and waited for her to come back down to Earth before gesturing her inside. Without any hesitations, she went inside. Kenny opened the door for her; she nodded a quick thanks before searching around for Lucas and Barry. Dawn found them sliding into one of the booths in the corner of the shop, probably for privacy. Barry first, and then Lucas on the outside. Since they both occupied one side of the booth, she slid into the one opposite from the boys. She stopped approximately a foot away from the curtains; turning around, she saw Kenny sat down next to her but closer to the edge.

"What do you guys what?" Lucas asked, standing up and tapping his fingertips on the clear blue table in front of them. They took a few seconds to think it through before answering.

"Vanilla."

"Chocolate."

"Oh, vanilla for me too."

Lucas muttered an 'okay' while writing down all the stuff down on his imaginary notepad and standing up to go order. Kenny and Barry laughed in amusement.

"Plannin' to become a waiter later on?" Dawn teased. As Barry and Kenny laughter grew louder, she couldn't help but grin widely.

He gave his sister a look before turning his back. "Hey wait, I'll pay for it," Kenny argued, standing up too.

"No, I'll do it," Barry said too, standing up onto his feet too. Dawn remained the only person sitting quietly in her seat, watching the boys fight for who will pay for the ice cream.

She exhaled loudly, trying to get the guy's attention, but her attempt failed miserably. "Ahem." No luck either. _'Boys can be __sooo immature.' _She stood up too. "If you guys are going to be like that, I'll pay for the ice cream."

"No!" all three boys yelled altogether. It was an immediate response. _'__So NOW they agree on something...'_ She shriveled back to her seat and watched reluctantly as the argument continued. In the end, Barry and Kenny slumped down in defeat as Lucas triumphantly cheered and marched over to the counter.

They waited impatiently as Lucas placed their orders. He came back in less than a minute or so and placed the two vanilla ice cream cones toward Kenny and Dawn and put the chocolate one in front of Barry. "Where's yours?" Kenny inquired curiously, grabbing the cone in front of him in a slow manner.

"I don't want one," Lucas replied simply. "I'll just watch you guys consume yours."

Barry pouted and licked his ice cream cone hungrily. "Aw, you're no fun!"

"Lucas," Dawn said, "you're a sucker for fun. You're always so serious..."

"Am not! Not always at least..." he muttered the last bit to himself. Luckily for him, nobody decided to press the matter on any further. "Hey Barry, mind explaining what happened before?"

He licked the top of his ice cream and brought it down below his mouth. "What are you talking about?"

"He's talking about the thing with your dad," Dawn said while using her tongue to reshape the ice cream cone. Kenny kept his eyes on her, observing her carefully. "I want to know too."

"Oh _that_," he murmured softly. In a louder voice he said, "I have no idea what you're talking about!"

She urged, "C'mon! You know that we know that you know exactly what we're talking about."

"Wha?" he tilted his head to the side in confusion.

"Sooo... what happened?"

"You're going to have to tell us sooner or later," Kenny said staring somewhere above Barry's head. "You know how Dawn likes to pry information out of people when she's curious."

"True, true." Barry squirmed in his seat as he placed his free hand on his chin and stared off into space as if he was deep in thought. "Where should I start?"

"Oh, here's a thought; how about the beginning?"

Barry cleared his throat dramatically before speaking. "Once upon a time—"

"You're supposed to be telling us about what happened between you and your dad today not a fairytale," Dawn snapped.

He glared at her before clearing his throat again. "Where was I again? Oh yeah. This morning, my little sister, Jessica, decided it would be funny to pour water on my head to wake me up. I've always been a heavy sleeper. I usually don't like waking up early either; it puts me in a bad mood. Anyways, mom told her to wake me up. During the water pouring, I fell out of bed in attempt to avoid the water. At that point, I was really annoyed and angry so I stood up and grabbed the closest thing to me—a book that was lying on the floor—and flung it towards Jessica."

Dawn gasped in horror. "How could you! Poor girl. I can't believe she would do anything like that either... I mean she's as sweet as an angel." She returned to reshaping her ice cream cone.

"Sweet... angel... ha, good one," he scoffed. "Anyways, I saw her dodge it once I stood up. I was glad though; I regretted it ever since the book left my hand. She stood back up immediately when she saw Dad come through the door frame to my room. He asked what was going on, and before I could say anything, Jessica had to jump in and told him everything—except for the part about her dodging it just in time before it made contact with her head. So Dad made me stay at home for the whole day today and babysit Jessica. Mom found out and once Dad left, she told me I was free to go out and she'll take care of Jessica for me. She did tell me to try not to run into dad too," he said smiling sheepishly before picking up his ice cream cone again.

"I see," Lucas muttered.

Barry lowered his ice cream cone a bit before saying, "Little sisters are so annoying..."

Lucas opened his mouth to talk, but Dawn gave him an if-you-agree-with-him-then-I-am-going-to-murder-you look. He smiled nervously before closing his mouth.

She smiled triumphantly before looking down at her ice cream and reshaping it again; she didn't know what she wanted to shape it into, but she had nothing else to do at that point.

Kenny was busy staring at her while finishing his ice cream; he looked curiously as he tried to figure out what she was trying to do. "What?" she asked, glancing over at Kenny after realizing that he had been staring at her for the past five minutes.

"Nothing," he said innocently, but quickly adding, "_Dee-Dee_."

In a flash, Dawn stopped licking her ice cream cone and set it down on table angrily. "Don't call me Dee-Dee!" she yelled and stuck her tongue out immaturely.

"Why do you call her Dee-Dee anyways?" Barry asked, plopping the rest of his ice cream cone into his mouth.

He smirked, biting a corner of the round cone. "Well you see—"

By now, Dawn quickly reacted; she slapped her hand over his mouth and hastily shoved Kenny off of the booth. "Hehehehe, nothing! Nothing at all; no specific reason..." She began laughing nervously and ranting to herself randomly.

Neither Lucas or Barry made a comment about Dawn's suspicious behavior (although they did start smiling in enjoyment). Instead, two mid-aged women walked from the counter to the door whispering among themselves. It was quiet, but all of them heard it.

"Looks like that guy lost control over his girlfriend over there," the first woman said.

The second woman laughed to herself before adding something to what the first woman said. "Ah, young love..." She sighed to herself quietly.

This comment brought red colors flying toward Kenny and Dawn's cheeks. Kenny was picking himself off the floor slowly, probably hiding his flushed face, while Dawn was busy nibbling on the top of her ice cream cone. "We... are... not... dating..." Dawn gritted through her teeth angrily as she nipped a piece off her cone. Kenny nodded furiously agreeing with her.

"Yet," Dawn heard Barry whisper to Lucas (Barry never was good at whispering quietly) before they both started laughing quietly to themselves. That remark did not help Dawn's blush disappear at all; on the contrary, it did quite the opposite.

Pushing her emotions aside, she cleared her throat and looked down at her unfinished ice cream. Dawn carelessly picked it up and plopped it in her mouth. She, ignoring the pain of the freezing ice cream traveling down her throat, looked around to see if everyone was finished. Kenny seemed to have finished around the same Barry. Lucas didn't eat one to begin with. She groaned; she hated it when people waited for her, especially her friends and family. She didn't like people waiting for her and slowing them down...

"Where next?"

Kenny and Lucas shrugged and turned their attention towards Barry who was starting to look quite uncomfortable with three pair of eyes staring down at him. "What?" he asked. "How should I know?"

"If you don't pick a place, then we'll just have to sit here and stare at you until the store closes," Dawn suggested, sitting back in her seat as if she was preparing to remain sitting in that very spot for a year.

"Alright, alright," he finally said. "We'll just go walking in the park..."

"Brilliant idea," Dawn complimented.

Barry's spirit lifted slightly. "Really?"

"No, I was just saying that so we could get moving now; I don't want to be sitting here all day you know."

"You're such a nice person," Barry muttered dryly.

"I know." Dawn smiled slyly. Without another word, one-by-one, they all scrambled out of the shop and began walking towards the park.

* * *

Upon their arrival at the park seven minutes later, they decided to split up into two groups.

In an hour or so, they would meet back to the center and go home from there. Lucas and Barry decided to go to the eastern most part of the park where there are many different species of Pokemon inhabiting the area. Kenny and Dawn wanted to just take a trail around the park. Nobody knows the exact trails because it changes often, but it's really easy to find your way out. Many people just wander off the trail in hopes of finding something new, and many just go on the trail just for the fun of it. Kenny and Dawn decided that they should just walk around doing nothing in particular.

They walked in silence, avoiding eye contact with one another. Occasionally while on the trail, Dawn or Kenny would point something out, like a Pokemon hiding in the bushes or a tree that looks out of the ordinary. Kenny rarely spoke up, but he did turn around a lot and find new things. He fidgeted around a lot, Dawn noticed while they were walking upon the trail.

* * *

Barry rushed off ahead of Lucas after complaining how slow Lucas was going. "Hey Barry wait up!" Lucas called out as he ran after his so-called best friend.

Finally slowing down, Barry simply stated, "Only because you were going so slow! I don't want to wait!"

"Well too bad. I like looking around slowly and seeing the close details. They're quite interesting you know..." Lucas trailed off as he continued looking around once more.

He complained, "If you wanted to do that, then why didn't you go with Kenny and Dawn. It IS what they're doing."

Lucas stated bluntly, "I didn't want to go with them for many reasons."

"And your reasons are...?"

"You'll kill me for not coming with you and keeping you company?"

Barry took his words in consideration before scoffing. "That's not the reason and you know it..."

"Barry, you know the reason... you know EXACTLY why I'm not going with them..."

He scratched his head confusingly. "What was the reason again?"

"If you don't remember it, then forget it..." Lucas answered in a frustrating manner. "I don't want to be discussing this with you for the tenth time this week. Anyways, I sense something awkward going between those two. Usually, they're full of conversations. Now, they're just plain silent. I think something happened between them... something we don't know about. I want them to make up soon... Dawn seems depressed that Kenny isn't talking a lot and Kenny seems sad in a way, even though he's the one avoiding conversation. I know something's up... I just can't put my finger on it."

"Why do you bother yourself with this stuff? You keep too many problems to yourself. And most of the problems you have are things you're trying to do for others. Lucas, you care too much about others. Besides, if you want to know, ask her. She's not a stranger; she's your sister! If you can't ask your sister anything, I don't think there's any other person you would feel comfortable talking to about this stuff... I mean you're talking to me right?"

He nodded. "Yeah. For once in your life, Barry. You're right. Thanks..."

"You're welcome... wait HEY!"

"Barry, we're here," Lucas said, changing the subject and pointing off into the distance.

* * *

After walking around for a while, they decided to settle down and just enjoy their surroundings. Kenny and Dawn sat on a white, wooden bench in a nice green clearing with trees surrounding the open area. Dawn smiled pleasantly as she looked around. Kenny, while Dawn wasn't looking, spent his time observing her silently.

Kenny raised his arm a bit and setting it along the bench, behind Dawn. Slowly and without a sound, his hand inched closer to her shoulder stiffly. Just a bit more...

Dawn's head turned to Kenny and his arm that was outstretched behind her. Tilting her head to the side, she looked at him curiously.

He jerked his hand back, hitting his hand on the wood on the bench (but he ignored the pain), and quickly made up an excuse. "Oh you know, just stretching..."

She nodded. "Yeah..." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Say Kenny, when are you coming over tomorrow? To start the scavenger hunt in the attic."

"I'm not sure," he said shrugging. "Probably when you wake up, which is at five in the afternoon the next day."

"I don't sleep that much!" Dawn exclaimed shoving him playfully.

He said nothing in response but took his attention off her for a moment. It didn't seem long before he felt weight on his shoulder. He turned his head slightly to see Dawn leaning on his right shoulder; she was in a deep sleeping state. His cheeks reddened and for what seemed like the first time that day, he smiled slowly crawled onto his lip as he looked down at Dawn's sleeping figure.

* * *

**Thank you guys for reading! Please review! The next chapter is when the real decorating starts. And I predict, that I'll have somewhere around nine chapters (not including prologue - which I still don't understand why I wrote). And somewhere around - mmm I don't know - chapter 4, is where things start get interesting between Dawn and Lucas. I'll give you a hint if you ask me. xD**

**(Oh by the way, I timed myself while typing this... it took me, about four hours, in total, to write this. I find it silly since sometimes, I start writing for thirty minutes, and only manage to get a paragraph done. My writing is really sad.) In addition, I spent half of today finishing this chapter and just to let you know, I have to use an awfully slow computer to update this story because my computer crashed... once more. That's how much I want to update this chapter this week. **

**Me: *clasp hands together proudly* And my work here is done... for now.**

**Dawn: Please review!**

**Barry: Or else I'll fine you all 100 million dollars!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: Hey everybody! I'm back with another update for _Best Friends Forever! _I would like to apologize beforehand if this chapter (along with others afterwards) turn out to be confusing because I'm trying to make three different things happen at once. It gets a little drama-ish and all unanswered questions shall be revealed (most of them at least). I know it's not near the end yet, but I'm starting to answer most of the questions already. I know, weird right... well at least for me it is.**

**Dawn: Enjoy the next chapter!**

**Me: Sorry in advance for spelling errors I might've made. It's either due to typos, or my horrible spelling skills; ****I have temporarily lost my spell check thingy. I tried my best to prevent them, but I don't think I'm doing very well.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 4**

* * *

Her eyes opened to meet a room engulfed with darkness. She sat up and rubbed her eyes sleepily as she looked around the area for anything familiar. Dawn squinted and narrowly saw a trace of light somewhere near her. She walked closer to the source of light; as she came closer, she recognized it as her digital clock. At least she found something to assure her that she was still in her bedroom. Dawn's eyes trailed around the room once more before striding carefully towards the door to turn on the light switch. Flicking the switch quickly, light overwhelmed her in a quick way. Instinctively, her hands slapped her eyes, covering them from the light above. She spent a couple seconds adapting to the lights before removing her hands from her face. Everything was left just the way she remembered it, excluding the snoring Lucas in the other side of the room. Lucas.

The girl approached her brother, who was peacefully sleeping on his bed. His eyes were closed tightly and his expression looked uneasy, as if he was worrying about something. For as long as Dawn could remember, she had never seen Lucas so troubled. She sighed briefly. _'I think I'm just being a bit troubled when I found out everybody's acting stranger than before. Everyone seemed to have changed so much. I think it's just because I haven't seen them as often anymore…especially Lucas. I haven't seen him since I was nine.' _Her thoughts were interrupted due to Lucas's groaning. He seemed to have noticed the lack of darkness. He yanked his blue blanket over his head and continue to drift to sleep. She, however, decided to wake up her brother for some questioning. At first, she decided to poke him awake.

**Poke… poke… poke… poke… poke… poke… poke… poke…**

She continued on and on for a few more minutes; she made no progress whatsoever. Deciding to go with a different method, she racked her mind for another idea. She loomed over Lucas and grabbed a hold of the blanket in her fists. She yanked it off the bed and it landed slowly on the floor. Lucas curled up into a ball as he muttered something about needing some sleep. She angrily took his pillow out from under his head and throwing it with the blanket pile on the floor. This caused Lucas to hit his head violently against the spring mattress. He jerked out of his bed violently and sat up, rubbing his eyes just as Dawn had done minutes before.

"Why... did you just wake me up at..." his voice trailed off as he tried to read the numbers on the digital clock. "1:00 in the morning."

"Actually, it's 1:01," she corrected.

Lucas got off his bed to pick up his blankets and pillows. He gathered all of them in one arm and tossed it at Dawn. "What was that for?" she inquired before shoving the blankets off her and threw it onto his bed carelessly.

"For waking me up at one in the morning," he replied simply. "You never answered my question though." He sat back on his bed and looked at her; she was still standing along his bedside.

She smiled slyly. "I wanted to ask you a few questions..." He didn't say anything in return so she continued, "How did I get here? I mean I didn't remember sleeping in my bed, nevertheless going to sleep at all..."

"Remember when we went to the park today... well technically, yesturday?" She nodded. "Well," he began, "you fell asleep at the park."

"I did what? How did I get home? How did I end up here?" she asked, continuing the questionair.

Looking at the ceiling above him, he said, "Well, after Barry and I finished with what we were doing, we went back to find you guys and found you sleeping next to Kenny. He told us that you fell asleep randomly while you guys were talking..."

"But that doesn't explain..."

He interrupted, "He carried you home."

"HE WHAT?" she exclaimed loudly.

"Shh, Mom's trying to sleep in peace. You don't need to wake up the whole house if you've got sleeping problems."

Dawn, who was tired from standing there, took a seat next to Lucas. She ignored him. "_Kenny_ carried _me _home," she said slowly, as if she could not believe what she was hearing. She felt her cheeks redden, so she looked down at her hands that were on her lap.

"Yeah. Barry and I offered to help 'escort' you home, but he refused. He said he wanted to do it himself so we didn't argue or anything," her brother answered.

"Oh," was all she could say at this point. She sat there in silence for a few minutes before asking more questions. "What did you guys do while I was asleep? Curious, is all."

"Well, we told Mom about our plans and talked about stuff. Kenny left as soon as he brought you back. Barry and I spent about five hours arguing about which is the best starter Pokemon."

She cracked a smile. "At let me guess, Barry was routing for Empoleon, right? And you were going for Torterra right?"

"Of course." Lucas hesitated a bit. Remembering his earlier conversation with Barry, he looked up at Dawn. "Is there something wrong going on between you and Kenny? Not that it's my business or anything..."

"No... well, yes in a way... but to be honest, I'm not so sure," she replied with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"He looks as if he's mad at you..."

She shook her head. "He's not mad at me... at least I don't think so. I mean I didn't do anything wrong..."

"Are you sure? Maybe something happened in the past that made him mad at you... can you remember anything?"

Racking her mind for an answer or memory that can answer everything, she came up with nothing in the end. "No, nothing."

Lucas nodded understandingly. "Anyways, you should go get some sleep; it's late." He slipped back into his bed and pulled his covers over himself.

"Lucas," she complained, "I don't want to go to sleep."

"That's because you just slept for eight hours! From five in the evening, to one in the morning," he retorted. He groaned as he tried getting back to sleep. He turned around to face the wall, trying to block the ceiling light from his eyes. "Now let me sleep."

Dawn frown deepened at the sight—she lifted her arms and shook his shoulders lightly. The room was quiet now, just like the rest of the house. Fidgeting around in her seat, she debated back and forth in her head between going back to sleep like a big girl and waking up her brother. The thought of the house being alone in a house this quiet made her feel less safe and insecure. Starting to feel like Barry, she didn't enjoy the quiet atmostphere either. "Lucas?"

He rolled over onto his back with yet another groan and his eyes shot back open tiredly. "Yes," he managed to murmer out.

"Stay up with me..." she said, practically pleading him.

With a sigh and a hesitant nod, he agreed. She squealed in joy quietly before giving him a quick hug. He returned it slowly, just as he had done the day before. She let go before any further notice. "Now what?"

She smirked slightly; the corners of her lips tugging upward. Lucas didn't like that sign—not that he ever will—but expecially not today. "How's everything going for you?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked confusingly.

"Oh you know, things like helping Professor Rowan at his lab and with being a trainer... how is that turning out for you?" she inquired.

Lucas flintched slightly, tensing up a bit. "O-Oh you know... everything's fine."

For the hundredth time that day, she asked another question. "What made you do both of those things again? Isn't it really hard to do? I mean doesn't one thing make you busy enough. That's very hard for a twelve-year-old to juggle, you know."

"I just decided to do both, that's all. Nothing wrong in doing so, right?"

"Right," she answered hesitantly. Something's up—she didn't know exactly what, but she knew Lucas long enough to know he was hiding something from her. "Anyways, run into any girls recently?"

Immediately, his face turned bright red. "N-No!"

"Come on... you can tell me right?" She nudged him lightly. He knew she was going to start this conversation with him sooner or later. He dreaded this topic more than anything. He shifted around nervously in his place while she was smiling innocently, waiting for an answer.

Shaking his head furiously, he answered, "I haven't met anyone that I've taken interest in."

"Lucas, you can lie to Mom or Barry'all you want, but you can't lie to me; you know that. I can tell when you're lying or not."

He let out a heavy exhale. "Well, maybe there's this one girl who catches my eye and attention a few times too many..." His voice trailed off by the time he finished the sentence.

"What's her name?" she continued to interogerate.

He repeated, "Her name?" She nodded quickly, telling him to go on. "Her name is Rosemary; she's currently residing in Sandgem Town."

Dawn's grin grew wider and wider as he said each word. "Someone's taking a liking to Rosemary."

Blushing lightly, he retorted, "The same way someone is taking a liking to Kenny."

"What no!" she exclaimed quickly. "Kenny and I are just friends... with slight problems apparently," she added the last part sadly.

"Suuure..." Lucas teased, unconvinced of any 'excuses' Dawn was about to make up. He looked back at the clock and his eyes widen in shock. "It's almost three already?"

She, too, took a look at the clock and agreed silently. "Yeah, time went by fast, but I'm still not sleepy."

"I'm really tired though. Just try to get some sleep; I'm sure I will. Goodnight," he said as he walked over to the light switch and flicked it. Darkness enveloped the room once more as Dawn hurled herself off his bed and onto hers. Now, she was left in the dark once more. Feeling a little sleepier, her eyes were still wide open, boring onto the white ceiling wall. Today was just one of those days where too many things happen at once that it's so hard to keep track of.

* * *

Morning arrived faster than either of them expected. Dawn woke up first, strangely, about two hours later. She spent the first hour in bed rethinking through all the events happening that day. It was just too much information to process at the same time. All these things with Kenny, Lucas, and Barry are all just too confusing. Barry is acting normal, yet weird somehow. Lucas is just Lucas, but it looks as if he's hiding something; Kenny, however, is just really different. He's quiet and getting a little anti-social.

She sat up in her bed and began stretching; she threw her blankets aside and got up. As she stood up she looked around the room. With one quick look at the mirror, a shriek ran throughout the house. Nobody—other than Lucas—seemed to have heard it since nobody reacted to it whatsoever. Lucas was a different story; he yelped at the sudden scream. Annoyed, he began tossing and turning in his bed, trying to get back to sleep as Dawn fussed over her hair. Before, this was a daily routine, but he hadn't heard her fuss over her hair in over three years. He wasn't used to it was he was before.

"Ahhhh!" she shrieked again. She pulled some of the strands of hair on her head downward, but they flew back up in an instant. She sighed as she called Piplup out of his Poke ball. Dawn had left Piplup in its poke ball more often now since she wasn't traveling and decided to let Piplup rest for a while. "Can you use Bubblebeam on my hair, Piplup?" The penguin Pokemon nodded briskly before sending out blue bubbles out and landed on his trainer's hair. "Thanks Piplup." After returning Piplup to his poke ball, Dawn continued to fuss over this one strand of hair that didn't seem to like staying still. This time, she didn't call out Piplup because if that one strand of hair survived Piplup's Bubblebeam attack, then it'll be no use trying again. Over the next hour, she tried many methods trying to fix her hair while Lucas tried very hard to sleep.

* * *

After an hour of continous, ignored mutters of complaints, Lucas gave up and woke up thanks to Dawn. Dawn still did not know anything about her brother's lack of sleep and skipped down the stairs to wait for the others to arrive. Kenny and Barry were already there, talking to one another rapidly. They sat on opposite couches as they went on and on with their conversation. She couldn't even guess the topic; it was just nonstop talking from the both of them. She went into the room unnoticed by either of them. Deciding to ignore the matter, she sat next to Kenny, who had just realized her existance. "Oh hey Dawn," he finally said.

Barry stopped midsentence as he looked over at Dawn. "Oh. I didn't notice you coming in."

"You guys were so caught up in your conversation. Anyways, what was it about?"

"Nothing!" they both chimed in unison.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "I'm old enough to know by now that 'nothing' means 'something'."

Barry reassured, "Really Dawn, it's nothing important."

"Yeah, Dee-Dee," Kenny teased with a goofy grin.

"Don't call me Dee-Dee!" Dawn snapped angrily.

Before either of them could reply, Lucas stumbled down the stairs tiredly, almost slipping when reaching the final step. "What's up with you?" Barry inquired.

Lucas slid down into the seat next to Barry uncomfortably, yawning widely. "Dawn kept me up all night."

"She did, eh?" Kenny thought to himself for a moment before saying, "Well, she did sleep quite early yesturday..."

"Yeah. Last night, she woke up at one in the morning and woke me up for two hours. After that, I managed to go back to sleep for about two hours before Dawn woke up again and began fussing about her hair."

Kenny sighed. "Typical Dawn."

Slightly ignoring Dawn's complaints in the background, he continued to talk. "Yeah... so I had around four hours of sleep..."

Barry nodded. "Poor you."

"Don't give me your pity! I just need sleep."

"Guys, why don't we start with our attic digging," Dawn suggested.

They all nodded in unison as they made their way towards the attic.

* * *

Clearing a bunch of boxes away from the doorway, dust filled the area in a matter of minutes. There was dust flying everywhere in the air, swirling through the atmostphere. They all took a corner of the compact attic before interruptions arrived.

They worked by themselves in their own corner of the attic for about ten minutes. They started conversations occasionally, usually about unsual things that happened during their journey and such. In almost no time at all, Johanna's voice echoed through the house and found its way into the attic. "Barry, your dad's here! He wants you home."

Barry groaned to himself before picking himself off the floor. He dusted himself off quickly. "Well, I'll see you later, if I ever escape my dad's grasp that is..." And with that, he disappeared down the hall and out of sight.

"Good luck with that!" they called out after him.

"Bye!"

The room got quiet, but Lucas broke it and talked about all the things he did as Professor Rowan's assistant. Kenny and Dawn were working quietly, listening carefully. So far, they haven't found anything, other than a big empty banner. Kenny occasionally commented as Lucas told his story. Dawn did too, but not as much. She was too busy looking through the boxes and avoiding dust.

After a few minutes, Lucas finished with his stories and they worked in silence. Dawn soon heard a bunch of boxes tumbling down onto the floor. Kenny and Dawn quickly reacted and turned around. There they saw Lucas, lying on the floor sleeping peacefully.

"I guess he finally fell asleep due to exhaustion."

"That _you _caused," he answered.

As soon as they went back to work, Dawn finally realized something. Kenny may've been really quiet lately... he only talks when either Barry or Lucas are around. Whenever he's around her, he almost never talks—never attempting to start a conversation, never attempting to talk, never attempting to do anything socially. _'Now,' _she figured, _'I know something is definately wrong with Kenny.'_

* * *

**I'm glad that you guys are dealing with my poor sense of humor and my weird style of writing. Please review! Tell me what you think. Double update next week if I get a lot of reviews! Compliments and constructive criticism are both allowed!**

**I wonder, does anybody know why I decided to put an OC in for Lucas? And no, it's not because I was bored and wanted to make this story more complicated than it actually is... Anyways, should I include her in this story? Like... have Lucas invite her to the celebration.**

**Horray for another filter! I really need to get going. I promise the next few chapters will be more interesting. I'm sorry that the ending was so rushed. I never ment for it to turn out this way, but it did. So I apologize for that. I really can't find another way to write the ending.**

**I am also really proud. I wrote this chapter in three days. A new record. A thousand words per day. YAY!**

**Dawn: R&R I'm starting to get the feeling that I'm only here to get you reviewers.**

**Me: Ehh... hehehe... no, why would you say _that_? *flees***


	6. Chapter 5

**Hey! I'm back with yet another chapter. The chapters are going to get a bit funky since I'm really not doing a very good job organizing it. Again, I am sorry in advance for any spelling errors. I still lost my spell check program, and I want it back now.**

**I finally set up a Formspring account to answer questions... so check it out if you want to ask me something (see my profile for URL).  
I also could've gotten this chapter up earlier, but I was too busy making my Formspring background, so sorry about that. But either way, I'm so proud. I wrote this whole chapter in just two days! New record for me. I usually take the whole week, but I only took yesturday and the rest of today to write it because I was being lazy the other days.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything other than stuffed Pikachu.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 5**

* * *

Throughout the silent hours in the attic—around three hours to be exact—they've managed to find multi-colored streamers, a banner, balloons, an old paint brush, and a button. Well, not much luck there. What _exactly_ do you expect two twelve year olds to find in an attic filled with nothing more than dust and boxes?

"Well, that was... interesting," Dawn commented after they exited the attic, with Lucas still sleeping in there.

Kenny agreed silently. "I think we should go around the neighborhood and ask them if they have anything we can use."

"Yeah."

As they made their way towards the living room, they could hear heavy drops of water falling continously outside; it was raining. Kenny could hear Dawn groan beside him. She didn't have anything against rain, but rain meant that it'll be harder for them to travel from house to house. "Hold on, let me find an umbrella we can use."

He nodded as he stood by the door patiently. She came back with a light pink umbrella in her hand. "Mom took the other one... there's only one left," she said softly.

"Hm." He grabbed the umbrella from her hand and muttered something under his breath that Dawn couldn't quite catch. They both slipped out of the door and Kenny began to raise the expanded umbrella in the air, high above their heads. He lowered it slightly before asking, "Ready to go?"

She nodded in reply. And with that, they walked out into the rain. Almost immediately, water began pouring down from the clouds above. Her right side was beginning to get drentched with water. She certainly did not want to be sick that day so she inched closer to Kenny. Kenny was getting soaked with water from his left side too. She placed her hand on his as she tilted it a bit so that they both can get under it without any water getting them wet. Kenny turned around embarressingly, probably blushing at how close they both were. He moved his hand away from hers slowly, holding it a bit higher above them. They rushed through the rain and strode down Elm street.

They soon approached the first house they saw on the street. Since her hand was still on the umbrella, underneath his hand, she removed it slowly and run the doorbell. Kenny removed the umbrella from above them since there were overhangs hanging over them, protecting them from the dripping rain. They waited for a moment before the door opened quickly to reveal an old aged man looking at them strangely.

"Um hi," Dawn said uncertainly. Even if Twinleaf Town had a small population of people and Pokemon alike, she didn't know half of the people living in the town.

"WHAT?" the old man yelled out.

"She said HI..." Kenny clarified.

The man yelled again, but a little louder this time. "WHAT?"

Dawn sighed as she turned to Kenny. "Let's skip this house."

"Good idea," he replied as he swung the umbrella up again and once again, they walked into the rain. Rain was still pouring more than ever, but it seems as if it was clearing up a bit.

They moved towards the next house. Walking up the steps, Kenny decided to ring the doorbell this time. This time, they met a mid-aged woman. "Well hello."

"What can I do for you?" she asked.

"Well," Dawn began, "there's a little celebration in a few days for the anniversary of Twinleaf and we were wondering if you had anything you could donate for it."

The woman smiled pleasantly. "Ah, so that's what this is all about... but why are you doing this today? It's pouring."

_'Good question, why WERE we doing this in the rain? And today too.' _"Err, I'm not so sure. So do you have anything to donate?"

"Of course, of course," she muttered to herself before going back into her house. She came back moments later with a big box. "Make sure they don't get soaked in the rain!" Kenny grabbed it with one arm and ducked under the umbrella. Dawn did too before they went back into the rain. They went in and out of people's lawns and yards, knocking on every single door visible. So far, they only got a big box, whose contents remain unknown, more balloons, and other random stuff they could use for the prizes of the mini games. There were only two booths for games, so the prizes didn't have to be a huge amount.

After this, they decided to return back to Dawn's house. Dawn truged up the steps and placed her hand on the doornob. She twisted it, but it wouldn't budge. Locked. Dawn mentally groaned and continued to fiddle with the doornob, just incase it was just jammed—but it was not. "Ugh."

"Great, we're locked outside on a rainy day too," Kenny complained, not looking at Dawn. He was busy looking out into the rain and watched it as it poured down heavily. The rain hadn't cleared up yet or anytime soon.

"Oh, Lucas is still in the house," she quickly remembered. "But he's asleep."

"Who leaves their house without getting the house key?"

Dawn said, "Me?"

"How about we go back to my house before either of us catches a cold or something..." Kenny suggested with his eyes still focused on the water.

"Hm," she said. She whipped out her cellphone and dialed her mom's phone number.

He commented, "Oh so you bring your phone with you but not your house key? That's nice."

After glaring at him, she heard her mom greeting her on the other side of the cell phone. "Mom, I'm going to stay at Kenny's house for now since I left the key inside the house, and neither of us know how to pick a lock." She quietly listened before answering again, "Yeah, alright. Bye!"

She snapped her phone shut and stuffed it into her pockets. "Let's go, eh?"

With the umbrella in use once more, they marched over to Kenny's house, which only took about a minute or so. Kenny quickly shook the umbrella dry before pulling out his key from his pocket; he unlocked it with ease and let Dawn in. He shut the door quickly—making sure to lock it—and walked off somewhere. Dawn, who had nothing else to do, followed him. He led her to his rather messy room; he digged through his closet and pulling out a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt. "Here," he said, throwing her the new clothing.

"What's this for?" she asked rather dumbly, observing them.

Giving her a weird look, he answered, "To change... restroom's down the hall if you don't remember. Your clothes are wet; you're going to catch a cold."

Kenny was right; her clothes were soggy and dripping wet. She strolled into the hall, slowly, in search for the restroom. Everything seemed so different from the last time she came here—three years ago. She opened the door to the restroom and closed it soon afterward.

After changing, she put her old clothes in a little bag she found in the restroom and left it on the floor near Kenny's room. She walked inside to find that he was lying down on his bed now, with green pair of sweatpants and a grey-ish t-shirt. She sat down next to him on his bed. She felt the matress under her sink downward as Kenny jolted up a bit in position. His eyes remained closed shut. She walked him curiously while he inhaled and exhaled unevenly, as if she had never seen someone breathing before. He opened an eye and closed it again. "You're done already?"

"Yeah..."

He nodded. "Did you check your hair yet?"

"What's wrong with it?" she inquired.

"The rain seemed to have messed it up a bit."

Dawn jerked up from Kenny's bed and sprinted towards the restroom to examine the mirror. A small shriek ran through the tiny house as Dawn frantically fixed her hair. Kenny chuckled at that. It seemed just like the old times, where things were much more easier and simplier, with no _feelings_, of any kind, getting in the way.

* * *

After finally finished with her hair an hour later, Dawn skipped out of the restroom cheerfully. She entered the room again to find Kenny lying down on his bed exactly like he was an hour ago. It was as if he didn't move at all, but he was still awake... maybe.

"Kenny?" she asked unsurely as she shook him lightly.

He murmered lowly, "You have a tendency to wake up random people don't you..."

"You're not random, and either is Lucas," she pointed out.

"True, but what do you expect me to do while you fix your hair?"

She stuttered, "Errrrrr..."

Kenny sat up and crossed his feet. "Exactly."

"Kenny?"

"Mm?"

She figeted nervously, wondering if she should ask him or not. It's now or never. He'll never let her talk to her freely, if they're weren't stuck in the same room alone. "C-Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You seem different..." she began.

"What do you mean?""

"I mean, everything about you is different. Your appearence looks different; your personality seems different; your actions seems different. Everything."

He shrugged, half caring. "People change."

"That's not it, Kenny. You don't seem like yourself either. I want things to be the same as they were before," Dawn said, observing Kenny's expression carefully. She was trying to figure out what was going on with Kenny, but no luck.

His gaze lowered from her face to the ceiling above them—he suddenly found the thing very fasinating. "You think_ I_ don't want it to be like before either? Dawn, I want it more than anything. I want things to be simple and easy. Now everything's complicated, I don't know what to do anymore."

"Kenny, then why can't it be like before anymore?"

"It can't because things are in the way. Many things... things that I don't want interfering... things that I _let _interfer," he answered in a scolding tone. It was as if he was scolding himself. Dawn was really confused now.

"What are you talking about?"

"Like my feelings for—" he quickly slapped his hand over his mouth. There was a silent pause before Kenny continued, "Like my feelings for coordinating."

"What? That doesn't make sense... unless you're saying that coordinating is messing up our friendship."

He briefly answered, choosing his words carefully. "Kind of... ever since we started coordinating, it has never been the same because we've been so wrapped up in our dreams."

Dawn nodded, taking in his words. "That is true, but it still doesn't explain why you're not talking to me much."

"I'm talking to you now aren't I?" he retorted.

"But," she argued, "not much as you used to. Before, we always would talk to each other when something was wrong. We would always talk to each other about everything... anything. However, things changed and I don't like it. You're not talking to me much anymore; you talk to Lucas and Barry normally, but when you talk to me, it's as if something's straining you... keeping you back from something."

This brought him speechless. Whether it was true or not, Dawn never found out because her cell phone rang and vibrated in her pockets. It was her mom, telling her that she can return home now. She mentally cursed her timing before walking out of Kenny's room. He followed her towards the front door and handed her back her umbrella. "Here."

"Is it true?" she asked, barely above a whisper.

"What is?"

"What I said before... is it true?"

Kenny closed his eyes tightly and opened them again slowly. He did this every time he felt nervous or trapped. "No. You should go now."

She did as she was told and held the umbrella above her head as she walked home. Everything may be confusing, but the one thing Dawn was very sure of is the fact that her conversation with Kenny contained many lies. He was telling her lies; he never did. He's definately hiding something... from his strange behavior to his actions...

* * *

Dawn walked up to her mom, who was in the kitchen making dinner at the time. "Yes?"

"Dawn, can you help me with dinner tonight?"

"Sure," she answered as she began cutting the tomato that was already set on the cutting board. "Mom?"

"Yes sweetie?"

She hesitated for a moment before continuing, "Is it just me, or is something strange going on with Kenny and Lucas?"

"Just you. Kenny seems normal and happy as he talked to me a couple days ago. And Lucas is just the same as he was before—curious and cheerful."

"Is that how they are?" she asked slowly, dreading the answer.

"Yes, isn't that how they always are? You should know them better than I do..." Johanna replied.

"But why," Dawn began, "are they not acting like that towards me? Is there something wrong with me?"

* * *

After dinner, Dawn and Lucas—who had woken up not too long ago—made their way upstairs and into their room.

"Lucas, you have a tendency to fall asleep in random places," she giggled lightly after they've settled down into their respective beds.

He scowled, "Only when you keep me up all night..."

"Hehehe, sorry about that. I just wanted company."

"It was really uncomfortable... now I'm all dirty and dusty. Not to mention my back hurts a lot," he continued to complain as he stood up.

Dawn sat up in her bed as she watched Lucas walk out the door. "Hey where are you going?"

"To take a shower," he replied shortly. "Then after that, I'm going to keep _you _awake all night."

She fell backwards onto her bed again; she groaned. _'This is going to be one long night.'_

* * *

**I just finished reading through this old Penguinshipping story of mine. It was awful. And to think I started that story... about less than a year ago and my writing has certainly improved. I'm really proud. I feel more comfortable writing now; writing has grown onto me!**

**Anyways, I've always found rain romantic for some reason. I really am a nature person. Hehehe. First the scene in the park and now the rain scene... just interested, how many people here are nature lovers? :D ****Enjoy this last bit of Penguinshipping moments because you won't see anything big for the next 3 - 4 chapters.**

**I'm sorry, but I left you on three different cliffhangers. Isn't that nice? Updates are going to be next week... I hope.**

**Please review!**

**With much love,**

**Lily**


	7. Chapter 6

**I'm here with Chapter 6! Thank you guys for all the reviews, even if it's not much, but I still cherish each and every one of them! :D Important author's note at the end... I'm sorry if this chapter seemed... rushed because it is. I'm sorry... this is just what I get for saving things till the end. I feel as if I had to get this out by today. Also, I randomly realized that I use a lot of dashes recently. =D Do I need to warn you guys that my spell check thingy is still broken?**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 6**

* * *

Dawn woke up early the next morning; Lucas had tried to keep her awake in the morning, but he was unsuccessful. He ended up falling asleep after the first ten minutes, despite the fact that he fall asleep for half of the day already. Lucas always needed more sleep than Dawn every did. She sleepily rolled out of bed and made her bed. Afterwards, she slipped into the restroom and did what she had to do. She walked downstairs, almost tripping over one of the steps. Finding her mom in the kitchen—along with four other people—she slipped into one of the couches in the living room to avoid conversation in the morning. Normally, she didn't like talking to people in the mornings.

"Hey ya!" Barry yelled suddenly from behind her. She jumped about a foot in the air surprisingly. Behind her, she heard chuckling belonging to Kenny and Barry. She twisted her head around only to come face to face with them. They had stopped laughing, but they kept an amused expression on their faces.

Angry, she snapped, "What was that for?"

"Nothing, just wanted to make sure you're awake, so you'll be ready for today!" Barry exclaimed.

"You guys are so nice." Dawn gave them a sarcastic smile.

"Of course we are," Kenny casually smiled.

She suggested, "Why don't you guys bother Lucas?"

"If we did, he probably murder us in our sleep... he doesn't like people interrupting his sleep, you know. He only lets you do that," he answered.

Nodding understandingly, she paused. "And you think I won't do that if you bother me?"

"Of course not, you're too nice."

Crossing her arms against her chest, she huffed. "I somehow take that as an insult."

"Sure, take it however you want."

With a shrug, they both collasped on opposite sides of the couch, leaving Dawn in the middle. "Go wake up Lucas or something..." she muttered annoyingly.

"What if we want to bother you?" Kenny said suggestively.

"What if I don't want that?" she countered almost effortlessly.

"What if we don't want to follow what you want?"

She threw her hands up in front of her. "I give up; I'm going to go wake up Lucas so you'll have someone else to annoy other than me."

* * *

An hour past after painful attempts in getting Lucas to wake up. He woke up thirty minutes ago and now, they were all done with breakfast and were on their way to set up for the celebration. Palmer, Barry's dad, told everyone what to do. Palmer and Kenny's mom were in charge of setting up the stands while Johanna was busy hanging up decorations with Lucas and Barry. Kenny and Dawn were left painting the stands once they were set up. With paint buckets and paint brushes ready to be used, Kenny and Dawn set off to work.

Dawn scratched her chin. "What color should we use?"

"Yellow," Kenny suggested. "I've always liked the color yellow..."

"No! Let's use pink!"

He made a face. "What?"

"Kidding..." Dawn said after seeing Kenny's expression. "How about baby green?"

"Noo..."

"How about both?" she suggested carelessly, a bit fusterated they couldn't find a color they could agree on.

Kenny made another face. "Eww no! Then it'll look like a big lemon/lime stand that's too bright that nobody will go up too. Green and yellow are a bright color; combined, they make an even brighter color. We're going to go blind as well as the people looking at it."

"Then what color do we use?"

"Yellow," he insisted.

Dawn aruged, "Then it'll look like the bright sun in the sky!"

"Then let it look like that!"

She suggested, "Why not green?"

"Because I'll blend into the stand!" he exclaimed dramatically. He tugged the corner of his shirt to prove his point.

Titling her head to the side, she looked at him. "I don't care! Let's go with green!"

"Yellow!" he yelled disagreeingly.

"Green!"

"Yellow!"

"No green!"

"Yellow!"

"Blue!"

"What?" he inquired, surprised at the sudden change of colors.

Dawn repeated, "I said let's just go with Blue."

He agreed, "Blue's a nice color."

"So we're painting it blue," she finally decided. They picked up the bucket of baby blue paint and began painting together quietly, occasionally flicking paint on each other.

* * *

Lucas stood on an unstable ladder. Tilting back and forth on the ladder, he clung onto one of the poles that he was supposed to be hanging the streamers on. "Lucas hang in there!" He was approximently twenty feet off the ground unwillingly.

"What choice do I have?" he muttered indecently. He was left hanging the streamers because Barry was afraid of heights and Johanna was 'too old' to be doing such 'hard' work, as Barry had stated. So naturally, he was left to do all the work. Johanna held the ladder for her son while Barry was hanging up balloons. Joy. Now—due to an wobbly ladder—he was stuck grasping onto the metal poles firmly as he hung the red and blue streamers. This wasn't fun at all.

* * *

Palmer stepped back from his work. Pleased, he smiled pleasantly. Kaiya, who was standing next to him, was doing the same. After finished with four stands—two for the mini-games and two for the food—he and Kaiya took off and began gathering up materials for the mini-games and the celebration itself. Together, they headed towards the storage shed in his house where he kept everything needed.

* * *

With more blue paint on themselves than the stand itself, they decided it would be best if they took their painting job a lot more serious. Afterall, they didn't want to run out of paint and buy more. There wasn't much conversation going on between them, but if there was, it would often be about how they needed to continue their paint job or something. It was always something about painting and nothing else out of topic. Every time the conversation strayed away from painting, Kenny would somehow manage to bring it back to colors and painting. Fusterated, she decided to keep her mouth shut. One more word about paint, and she would literally pass out. Not only was she tired from painting and looking at it, she had to hear about Kenny's talk about paints and colors every time she said something.

Swaying the brush back and forth against the wood, she sighed absentmindedly. Something just wasn't right... like something is missing. She bent down again and dipped the paint brush into the can; Kenny seemed to have been doing the same. Brushing the side of their palm against each other, Kenny pulled back as if he was being shocked by electricity. Dawn's hand just froze on the spot. After recomposing themselves, he cleared his throat, and they both set off to work again, trying to forget the little 'incident' that happened a couple minutes ago. Dawn began to glide the paint across the wooden surface carelessly. Her thoughts traveled towards and away from Kenny—each thing led to another. In the end, she thought back to the little scene from before. _'Why can't I forget it? It's just a simple thing. Nothing big. It's not like he kissed me or anything...'_

* * *

Relieved, he took his last step and landed on the solid ground; he felt happier than a five-year-old child who had just recieved their favorite toy. He didn't believe he could make it out alive even if it's just standing on a ladder twenty feet above the ground. To him, it was a big deal.

Johanna wiped a sweat off from her forehead, which Lucas scofted at. Afterall, he was the one doing all the hard work. Barry was simply blowing up balloons with a helium pump and tying them to anything he could find. He even lost a few balloons in the process. They flew away from him, much to his disappointment and anger.

"Lucas?" He turned around in response to his name being called; the voice belonged to his mom. Johanna had a serious expression on her face. Lucas couldn't exactly tell what she was going to talk to him about, but he could tell, it was something he wasn't going to like.

"Hm?"

"I think you need to tell Dawn," she suggested out-of-the-blue. However, Lucas seemed to have known exactly what she was talking about.

"Mom, it's not the time," Lucas protested. "I know that she has been suspecting something but that doesn't mean I have to tell her."

Johanna urged, "Yes you do. You have to tell her eventually; I'm pretty sure she'll understand. She's a forgiving person—she HAS to know why you've been acting like this. She has to know why you do certain things. She deserves a right to know. Dawn needs to know. She's going to figure it out eventually, and she's going to be mad if she finds out before you tell her. You know that Lucas. She has a right to know since it concerns her."

With a hesitant sigh, he answered, "Sure mom. I'll tell her soon—forget that. I'll tell her today."

* * *

Nightime arrived before anyone expected. Kenny and Dawn finished three out of four stalls while everyone finished what they were supposed to. They all had dinner at Johanna's house again. All families were invited. Dawn decided to eat quickly and slipped upstairs to take a shower, in attempt to get blue paint out from her skin and hair. Her dark blue hair now has splotches of light blue paint everywhere. She made a mental note to get Kenny back later.

After her shower, she put on her pajamas and dried her hair with a towel. Lucas busted through the door suddenly and then his eyes rested on Dawn. "Is everybody gone yet?" she asked him, tugging her towel back and forth over her head. She was still attempting to get rid of the paint in her hair. So far, she threw her clothes in the laundry to clean the paint of that and got rid of every spot of paint on her skin. It was just her hair who still had light blue paint areas on it. Pulling it harder, she looked into the mirror. No luck.

"Yeah, everyone's gone now." He paused a moment as if he was hesitating to continue; he didn't say anything further. Instead, he walked out towards the curtains and tugged them aside, revealing the balcony. He stepped outside and walked towards the railing. He leaned upon it as he felt the cold breeze blowing through, sending a chill throughout his body. He wasn't sure if this was the weather's doing or his nervousness. Before he knew it, Dawn joined him with a towel hanging over her shoulder. She stood there next to him smiling brightly under the full moon.

"You seem a bit troubled," she pointed out.

However, he ignored her completely. "Dawn, we_ need _to talk."

* * *

**And I know you all probably wanna kill me because I left you on a cliffhanger, but I decided to give you more reasons to kill me next month...**

**I'm sorry to annouce that this is going to be my last update in a month. I'm not going to be updating at all in February. I decided to take a break because of a lot of reasons. Don't worry though, I'll be back by March. :D**

**1. I feel that FanFiction is taking over my life so I need a break from everything and do the things I haven't gotten around to do. So I'm shutting down my FanFiction world. I won't be reading, writing, thinking, or coming up with any ideas for my stories throughout the next month. The only thing I'm going to be doing is replying to people who are talking to me... and that's it.**

**2. This is not because I have writer's block. On the contrary, it's quite the opposite. I have way too much ideas and things to write about that I'm overloading my brain with. I need to take this time to organize things and work things out for me. I seriously have 20 ideas left unwritten. Exactly 20 right now. I'm not exaggerating one bit. I somehow come up with ideas really quickly; I just came up with 2 ideas in the past 24 hours.**

**3. While trying to get things done, I am also try to improve my writing, which is exactly why I'm taking the month off. This break is going to throw my schedule off balance, but it must be done. I have little problems in my writing that I want to change. First off, I need to learn to word my sentences better because my sentences are all choppy and weird. They just don't... flow. Anothing thing is that my vocabulary, grammar, and spelling is just plain horrible; I can't describe it. I have the vocabulary of a first grader, grammar of a second grader, and spelling abilities of a third grader. I have to use a dictonary and thesaurus every time I write. I depend too much on my spell check program too. I'm still mad that it doesn't work. In addition, I have to include more actions and details in my writing because I always end up using too much dialogue, which I do not like at all.**

**4. Also, I have a lot of things coming up in school and at home that I must help with or complete. Assignments and homework are mostly what's in the way. Anothing thing is that I have mid-terms coming up the next week, and I need to study like CRAZY if I want to pass it. This seriously is very important to mel; I take testing very seriously. I just hope to pass my classes cause right now I'm failing (my definition of failing is very different from other people's).**

**Please review, and check back in a month for another update. I'm sorry. And trust me, this story will be completed. I'm not going to discontinue it or anything because I have it all planned out and REALLY am excited to write the ending.**

**Truly sorry for the inconvience,**

**Lily**


	8. Chapter 7

**I'm back... and alive! xD**

**I feel very bad for leaving you guys like that... cliffhanger too. To make it up, this will be one of the most important chapters, and sweet, throughout the whole story (minus the last one). Anyways, I've tried to make this scene as least romancy as possible. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE A BROTHER/SISTER MOMENT, NOT A ROMANTIC SCENE BETWEEN A COUPLE. It was hard, but I love this chapter nevertheless.**

**Anyways, I've stated before that I will not be writing throughout the month of February... but guess what? I couldn't do it; I wrote anyways. Believe it, or not, I started writing the 1st day of February. I didn't necessarily type out this story during that period... I was brainstorming and writing for other stories that I'm writing in the future.**

**To be honest, I only took a break to get away from this story. I was kind of tired writing this story and nothing else, so I decided to write other things. I would've stopped this story if you guys weren't here to support me. Anyways, I still haven't finished half the things I wanted to do. So many things happened on FanFiction during my break though. I got to work on five different stories I never managed to write before... and I posted four of them... so I have four more stories than before. Oh and I also joined a community and am currently writing a collab fic with a friend. This is all so confusing and now I'm as busy as heck. I'm going to bring this story slowly yet quickly to a finish so I don't include any unneccesarly details. So, the next four chapters are going to be very filled and informational. I don't know if that's a word, but ah well! xD**

**Putting other things and thoughts aside, I am proud to present the 7th chapter of _Best Friends Forever_!**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 7**

* * *

_'Dawn, we need to talk.'_

She agreed quickly, even if it was rather unexpected. "That is true. I want to know what's going on. You're acting so differently and from what I found out, it's only around me. Nobody else. Am I like some special person so that you keep everything a secret from and act differently around me? Is it because you don't like me anymore?" she blurted out rather randomly.

He sighed but looked out into the distance; he didn't give her a second glance ever since he walked out onto the balcony. He was busy looking down at the busy lights from the little town. It wasn't much, but it was such a beautiful scene out here-expecially at night. His gaze was busy, somewhere below. He wasn't concentrating on it or anything, he just wanted something to stare at since he was feeling a little anxious about the subject he was about to talk about. He didn't want to look at Dawn; she was the last thing he wanted to look at.

"It's not because of you," he finally said. "Well it does concern you, but it's nothing to do with the way you are or anything... well, gah. I can't explain it. It has everything and nothing to do with you. Anyways, that is what I wanted to talk to you about today."

Dawn bluntly stated, "I am sooo confused right now." She ignored what he had said at the end. Either way, he was going to tell her about his strange behavior no matter what.

With a weak smile, he said, "Yeah me too. I don't know where to start; I don't know how to start."

"What is it about anyways?"

"All the things you 'accused me of doing,' and everything else you're confused about."

Nodding weakly, she shivered through the cold. With nothing but her thin pajamas on and the towel around her neck, her hair clung to her skin like a leech, keeping her cold, and she suddenly lost all the warmth in her body. "Start where you feel like starting... where you feel like you should be starting."

"I probably should start with the beginning of it all and all the things that happened in our childhood. That's pretty important. I remember a lot of things, and this is one of the things I will always remember. Well, I remember when you were still a little girl, you were always afraid of everything that seemed peculiar and strange. You were nervous from just about nothing to everything. You depended on others around you, and you would always cling onto either me or Mom for support or help. You never did anything alone. You were such a shy girl; you wouldn't be able to talk to anyone properly that is outside our family. Everybody except Kenny and Leona that is. You would always talk about and to them all the time ever since you met them. I was glad; I have to admit. Frankly, at first, I have to be honest and say that I was only glad because you finally left Barry and I alone. You would always tag along and shyly talk to Barry sometimes when you really wanted to talk to him or something. Now, I realize something totally different. I'm glad because you're able to trust different people, and you actually gave them a chance. You actually talked to them and hung out with them, something you have never done before. I was glad... I was glad you were growing more independent and being able to do things without the people in your family. You depended on me and Mom. Sometimes, I feel as if I'm not five minutes older than you but five years older. I feel as if I'm a lot older than you because I always end up helping you out with things that you should be doing alone. Even if you've learned to open up to others, you still depend on others. You depend on me most though; I know you feel comfortable talking to me more than anyone. You're more open to me than anyone... you still are. I wasn't tired of helping you all this time, I just didn't want you to be such an dependent girl. I didn't want you to depend on others around you all the time because you can't always do that. I wanted you to be able to work things out by yourself and do things by yourself." His voice trailed off for a while, uncomfortable silence overwhelmed them both.

"Is that why you left?" she asked like a little child. By 'left' she meant to become Professor Rowan's assistant. She didn't look at him either. She stared down at her hand that was folding and unraveling every couple seconds. They twitched and moved a bit due to sudden anxiousness, as if she didn't want to know what he was going to say next. It was like she didn't want to know the answer to the question she had just asked.

He shrugged. "Probably. I don't know. When the oppertunity came, a couple of years ago, I knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. I couldn't turn it down. I know that I would have to leave everyone I care about and live over there for long periods of time. I only got to visit a couple of times a year, but it's worth it I guess. I got three things out of it. One, I got to be able to work alongside Professor Rowan, my idol. The second thing is that I get to work alongside Pokemon and work with them. You know, no matter what kind of job it is, as long as it's Pokemon related, I was willing to do it. However, I began thinking it through, and I decided not to go... until I thought about you. I began thinking about how I could make you a more independent girl if I left. I thought, without me, you would be able to stop depending on the people around you. I thought that this was my perfect oppertunity. I wanted to go away from you for a while so you could learn to do things on your own. I know that wasn't a very nice thing to do, but I did it all for you. I love you Dawn. You were always my little sister... I always loved you as one. After I went away for a year or so, I went on my journey..."

She nodded absentmindedly until a question passed through her. "Wait, if you were training like I thought you would be, why weren't you at the Sinnoh League? Knowing you, you'll probably get all your badges a couple months before the whole thing."

"I know. I would've, but I knew-from Barry-that you were going to be at the Sinnoh League with a traveling companion of yours... and I knew that you went there to find me because we haven't had much contact during that time. I felt guilty for avoiding you from the start and trying to get away from you to make you a more independent girl that I didn't have the nerve to face you. That's why I didn't arrive at the Sinnoh League. I pretended that I was busy and canceled my appearence. Did you ever wonder why Mom is always worried about you? Did you ever wonder why she always made sure you were safe and okay? She was worried you wouldn't be able to take care of yourself once you started your journey. In all honestly, I believed the same thing. But look at you now, you placed Top 2 in your first Grand Festival for a coordinator who has never had any experience before. That's a wonderful achievement not many can accomplish. I never believed you could do it; I'm sorry to say. Now, I guess you have proved both me and Mom wrong. You are capable of doing things yourself now... all on your own. You don't need someone along side you to hold your hand anymore." He smiled weakly. "Now, I didn't tell you all of this, and I didn't plan to yet. And obviously, you're getting a bit suspicious because of the sudden awkwardness between us. I didn't want to tell you, and I was too busy worrying how well you'll react to all of this. I was guilty for leaving you." He finally finished and fixed his gaze on Dawn for the first time since his speech began. He studied her quickly; he wasn't able to do that in quite a long time. Beaming at her appearence, he turned to give her eye contact, even if she wasn't looking back.

Noticing the sudden look he was giving her, she chose to ignore it and kept staring at the sky above them. With not a single cloud in the sky, the clear night sky containing the moon and bright stars shone from above, lighting the city underneath it. Another gust of wind came by and both of them shivered. Dawn, however, didn't even pay any attention to her actions. Her mind was busy absorbing all the information she had just gathered. _'So this is why Lucas has been acting so strangely around me. I never would've known that he did all of this, for me. It was all for me. Who knew he cared so much about me. I did come to the Sinnoh League to track Lucas down because I missed him, but I was surprised I didn't see him. I guess I was mad at him at that time. I had to go through all the trouble of tracking down everyone who was entering the league to find out that Lucas wasn't going to be in it. Should I be mad or happy that he did all that? Should I be angry at him for not believing in me or doubting my skills? Should I be furious with him for thinking I can't take care of myself when I have to? But what he did was so sweet...' _With her mind on some other planet, Lucas dragged her back down to Earth again.

"Are you mad?" he finally inquired.

She shook her head in a slow manner but didn't say anything. Still looking off into the distane, her lip was twitching upward a bit, but it didn't remain that way. She didn't know exactly how to feel about this situation. "I don't think I'm mad. I think I'm rather happy that you sacrificed all of that for me. I didn't know I mean that much to you. I didn't know that you would do all of that for me; I thought you just avoided me all that time beause you hated me. Anyways, I didn't think that was necessarily to do. You did so much for me, and I can't find any way to repay you... ever. You're making me feel guility. I want to be mad at you for doing all that for me without my permission, but it's all so sweet. Why did you do that for me?"

"You mean the world to me, Dawn. I wanted you to be a responsible girl whom I can call my little sister. You don't have to repay me. I did this from the kindness of my heart. I just wanted to do this for you."

Deciding not to say anything, her fingers began curling around one of the supporting bars in the balcony. "I didn't want you to do all of that for me," she finally whispered.

"It wasn't something I had to do, Dawn. I chose to do it."

"But still..." The wind picked up a bit as it blew her hair around her face. She pivioted herself to face the wind; the breeze was blowing against her face softly. She liked the feel of it against her skin and face. It blew her hair around, all over the place.

He frowned. "It's too late now to take back what I did. I'm just glad with the result. You're much more dependable on yourself now. You're not that shy little girl who was afraid of everything anymore. Now, your'e that girl who's not afraid to show off who she really is. She's also became a wonderful coordinator and independent. Even so, just keep in mind, you can always depend on me if you need anything. I'll always be there for you... and so will your friends."

Finally, a smile formed widely as she suddenly felt heat rushing back to her body. Maybe it was the weather growing warmer, or the warmth she felt when Lucas said that. It made her feel secure. Without another thought, she rushed up to the boy and wrapped her arms around him slowly. "Thank you... for everything, Lucas."

Puzzled, he returned her hug and whispered in her ear, "I miss your hugs. I also miss how you would always depend on me when you need something because it means that I can help you out with things. But what I did was for the best. I'm proud of you."

She pulled backwards a bit, still in the embrace. "You know, the only thing I actually missed was spending time with you."

* * *

**I wonder, did my writing style change at all? So, I was freezing cold when I was typing this chapter, which explains why Lucas and Dawn are both outside shivering like crazy. Hehehe. I was too lazy to get off my lazy bottom and turn on the heater, so yeah. ****Anyways, please leave a review. I feel so sad; I get a ton of readers but very few reviewers... so PLEASE REVIEW!**

**Next Chapter: Kenny and Barry's discussion. This chapter is in Kenny's point of view (still third person though) and is going to be the only chapter that doesn't focus on Dawn or anything from her point of view. I don't even think the next chapter will contain Dawn. Another very important chapter. I think all the chapters after this are going to be important. Very important and essential.**

**So I went through the chapters today and did a little editing, after realizing how many mistakes I made. Hehehe. So yeah... I don't often do this sort of thing, but I just realized I made some pretty stupid mistakes.**

**With love,  
****Lily[:**


	9. Chapter 8

**This is probably the most important chapter of the entire story... next to the last of course. I hope you guys enjoy reading it! It shall explain Kenny's sudden quietness.**

**I was so busy this weekend I didn't even think I could get this chapter out in time... but I did. Mwhahaha! I feel so accomplished. I've been busy all week but I got it out anyways... yay! Feel glad I got over my laziness to did this all for you.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 8**

* * *

Worry took over him as he ran to find his friend Barry. Kenny had woken up with a start that morning, suddenly remembering to look for Barry. It was important; he needed to share what he had just learned with the guy immediately. He couldn't keep it to himself—this could not wait.

He ran to Barry's house as fast as his legs could carry him, and finally arrived at Barry's house. It wasn't much of a run, but it felt like forever. Kenny knocked on the front door furiously, completely forgetting that there was a doorbell a yard away from his pounding fists. Loudly, in his mind, he kept screaming Barry's name over and over in his head. He needed to see the guy now!

So occupied in what he had to tell Barry, he didn't notice the door had already opened and he had been knocking on nothing for the past ten seconds. He flushed embarressingly as he lowered his hand and looked down at the little girl who had opened the door for him. He remembered Barry telling him about having a little sister, but he had never seen her before.

"Psycho..." she muttered at him. It was probably because he was knocking on the door continously at eight o' clock in the morning without noticing the door opening.

"Look," he racked his mind for her name, while maintaining a serious tone, "Jessica. I need to see your brother so—"

She stood there smiling upward at him. "I'm sorry, I don't know what you're talking about. You've got the wrong house... good bye!" She swung the door shut, but Kenny slipped his foot between the door and the door frame. With ease (since he was a couple years older), he pryed the door open only to be met by a scream by the little girl. "AAAAAAAAAAAAH!" she screeched loudly. "Child mole—"

A taller figure stood behind her and clamped a hand over her mouth. "What on earth Jessica? Shut up already! How many times do I have to tell you not to open the door for strangers—" his voice trailed off as he looked up at Kenny. "Oh Kenny! I didn't see you there. Pardon my sister, she can be a pain sometim—OUCH!" He was cut off by his sister biting his hand. His hand snapped away, wiping her saliva off his hand with his shirt. "What is up with you today?" he asked her as if Kenny wasn't at the door at the moment.

"I'm hungry," she merrily replied with a shrug. "I asked you for something to eat an hour ago."

Laughing nervously, his hand flew to the back of his head. "I forgot. Meanwhile, Kenny, come in!" Kenny obeyed obediently, looking carefully at Jessica, just in case she might attack suddenly or something. "Mind helping me make Jessica something to eat?"

He wasn't here to help Barry babysit his sister, but he agreed to do so anyways. "I don't mind." And with that, Kenny followed Barry into the kitchen to make her a sandwitch, as Barry had said. Kenny observed everything he passed along the way. The house was tidy, but sometimes, there was something out of place or misplaced. Otherwise, it was nice and clean. He had never been in Barry's house before, despite them being friends for a while now.

"I'm horrible at making food of any kind, so I'll need your help. Oh Kenny, what brings you here in the first place?" Barry finally questioned.

"I have something to tell you." Barry nodded to himself and the two boys went to work.

Having trouble locating the bread, he searched around the cupboards for other materials needed. After an hour, the two boys finished making a simple blueberry sandwitch. The cause of the delay was because of Jessica's random distractions and because neither of them knew where half of the things in the kitchen were so they had to go digging through the entire place. Placing it on the plate carelessly, Barry shoved the plate hastily in front of Jessica's face. "Here."

She thinly smiled and pushed the plate away. "I wasn't hungry; that was just for my entertainment. And you guys didn't know that while I distracted you, I moved everything around so you would have a hard time finding it." And with that, she skipped off into doing whatever it is she was about to do.

Now that he thought about it, there were times when he remembered he already got something but he found it missing the next second he turned around. In addition, there were times where the ingredients were up in a high place or hidden secretly. How she hid them without them knowing, only Arceus would know. "That girl," he heard Barry mumble, "is going to get it one day." Finally regaining himself, he looked down at the plate in front of him. "Kenny, do you want it?"

Kenny shrugged absentmindedly but got it anyways. After about fifteen minutes of cleaning up the mess (they made a big mess), Kenny and Barry finally settled down to sit on one of the couches in the living room. "Sorry," Barry apologized, "my mom and dad just left the house to figure out the mishap of the equipment and materials we need for the festival. Did you hear something about how the shipping of our supplies being messed up and got postponed?" Kenny shook his head. "Well, the shipping is going to be delayed until a couple of days, so when it does come, we'll all be working really hard to put it together and bring it to a finish. Of course, you'll be working with all the girls in the kitchen."

Slapping Barry's head, Kenny frowned disapprovingly. "You're the one who got me into it."

"I'm kidding. Anyways, so the point is, everything got postponed... so I'm stuck at home babysitting my sister until the materials do arrive. And by then, it should be before the deadline... so we must work super hard to carry out the plans properly."

Kenny nodded and quickly asked, "Barry, did you know about Lucas's plans?"

"What plans?" he seemed to be utterly confused yet clearly understanding the situation at the same time.

"I'm talking about the one where he decided to ditch the Sinnoh League just to avoid Dawn, and that Dawn only went to the Sinnoh League to see Lucas."

Barry was silent for a moment, for he did not say a word. "Yes," he finally muttered.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he exclaimed.

Raising his hand up in the air, he tried calming the boy down. "I didn't know! And besides, Lucas told me to keep it a secret. As for Dawn, I thought you would've known being her best friend and all." Filled with fusteration, Kenny buried his hand into his head and muttered out something. "What? I didn't catch that."

"I said, 'I'm a jerk'."

"What why?" Barry had no idea what was going on at the moment. He was confused as can be. He didn't even know why Kenny was suddenly asking him all of this.

"You know, just before the Sinnoh League started, I bumped into Dawn. I asked her if she wanted to travel with me, but she denied, saying that she would go with Ash instead," he said with a pause. A minute later, he found his voice again and continued, "I thought that she had chose Ash over me. I had no idea that Lucas was going to be at the Sinnoh League. I thought that he'll be caught up in research. I liked Dawn a lot at the time, as you already know, and I was heartbroken after she had denied. After sulking about it for a while, I figured out that I might actually have stronger feelings than just liking her. I wanted to push those feelings away then, expecially after I 'knew' that Dawn didn't like me, but she liked Ash."

Barry protested, "But she doesn't like Ash anymore than she likes me, and the only reason why she went to the Sinnoh League was to see Lucas. That and she wanted to thank Ash for helping her with the things she needed help with on her journey. She confronted me herself while I was there; she asked me where Lucas was and why he wasn't here. You can't blame the poor girl though—she hasn't seen her brother in a long time."

"So I left that day, thinking that Dawn liked Ash," he continued, completely ignoring what Barry had just said. "I pushed her away—in hopes of getting over her—but that never happened. Then, I decided that it would be best if I just, didn't talk to her as much as I did before because if I did, I wouldn't be able to stand it. I didn't want get any closer to her than I already am because it saddens me to think about how I've lost her to someone else. I was scared that if I got any closer to her, I'll break down or something. I won't be able to stand being with her if I 'knew' she liked someone else other than me. I didn't want to talk to her because all I end up thinking is how much I love her. I couldn't stand doing that all the time, so I just pushed her away to finally find out that she never liked Ash in that way in the first place."

"That would explain a lot. Dawn is worried about you, you know. She's been wondering why you've been so quiet and feeling lonely," Barry remarked.

"I knoooow! And I regret doing it. I should've just asked her..." he rambled absently.

A thought suddenly stuck Barry. "Wait, how did you find out about Lucas's plan and stuff? I didn't blurt it out randomly did I?"

Kenny shook his head sadly. "No, unfortunately, I eavesdropped. I know I wasn't supposed to be, but I couldn't help but listen in on Lucas and Dawn's conversation last night!" he rushed the last part after the glare Barry was giving him.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"I guess I deserve that for both of the things I did. Hey, Barry... can you do me a huge favor?"

Barry curiously looked at the boy as he stared down at his sandwitch. Poking holes through the upper layer of bread, he was oblivious to what he was doing. "Hm?"

His poking began slowing down at a steady pace. "Can you keep all of this a secret? I don't want Lucas or Dawn to find out about what I did... I always wanted to win over Dawn's affection over everyone else out there who was competing for the same thing I am. However, she seems to be talking to the other person more than she does to me. I'm afraid that she doesn't want to talk to me much because I'm boring and I've stuck around with her since childhood. So I decided to ignore her... after thinking that she liked Ash more than she liked me. I decided to block her out of my life because I wanted to block out those feelings I have of her. Useless if you ask me. They're tearing away our friendship... how could I let that happen?"

Barry shook his head furiously. "You got it the wrong way. Kenny, you don't realize the way you look at Dawn when you two _do _talk to each other and you don't notice the times when she does talk to you because you're so busy trying to act perfect for her. And I know you enjoy every single minute you spend with her even if you're not responding to the things she says. You're busy looking at her and making sure you don't make any mistakes that you don't really see the way she looks at you. She's looks at you the same way you look at her. You two are like two mirrors, reflected upon each other. You both ignore your feelings for each other, afraid of a ruined friendship if the other one doesn't feel the same way, yet you can't stand staying friends. It shows. I know you care and I know she cares too. You're not boring to her. Kenny."

"Thanks for helping me out, Barry, even though half of the things you say are probably incorrect," he said in a sad voice. His voice practically faded away at the end of his sentence.

He raised an eyebrow. "And how do you know that? She cares a lot about you Kenny. You just don't realize or believe it because you have no self confidence in yourself. You have to believe and you can't give up quickly. Lack of self confidence doesn't lead to anywhere. You can only accomplish things if you're destinined and determined to complete what you are going to do."

"Even if that is true," he finally said after a long period of pausing to think, "I don't think I can do anything to make her forgive me for ignoring her after that incident. Besides, I can't make up the time I spent ignoring her. She probably hates me. I didn't have enough courage to ask her to travel with me in the beginning... and when I finally did, I purposely chose the time when she's done traveling with her last traveling companion. Instead, she rejected my offer. I thought that that was the end. I felt like I should've been the one she chose. I couldn't help but envy Ash as to how he had been a much better friend to Dawn than I am to her. And Ash knew her for about a year or two. I feel like such a horrible friend. Maybe she doesn't deserve me afterall..."

With a shake of his head, Barry frowned. "Don't say that about yourself, Kenny. You know that's not true."

He shrugged. "I don't know what to do anymore. At first, I thought that I had given up on her... but that's not possible. I had given up on myself and my abilities."

"I know what you can do," Barry suggested. "You can start all over with Dawn in a couple days. You know, when you two start cooking food for the festival. It's always a good idea to do so you know. Get closer to her while you two are spending time with each other and leave the rest to me."

Kenny thought over it for a while before frowning. "What do you mean by 'leave the rest to you'?"

He said nothing but whispering slowly, "Shhh! It's for me to know, and for you to find out eventually."

"Alright, whatever. Anyways, I have to go back home, my mom will start to wonder where I went. I didn't leave a note or anything..." He got up and set his plate on the table. It was left uneaten due to Kenny's sudden lost of appetite. He wasn't hungry anymore nor was he in the mood for anything. Wondering what would've happened if he hadn't given up on himself and didn't ignore Dawn like he had, he let out a low murmer of goodbyes to Barry.

Barry nodded and led him out the door. As he walked down the porch steps, Kenny heard Barry shout out from behind him. "Kenny, don't worry! Your secret is safe with me."

"I sure hope so," Kenny muttered to himself. With stress and relief gone from telling Barry everything he had kept inside for so long, he let out a sigh slowly. "Now, I just hope Dawn's willing to give me another chance..."

* * *

**And that, my lovely readers, is chapter 7. I like this chapter, yet it's a little... out there. Even though I had this whole entire story planned out backwards and forwards three times, this chapter wasn't part of the original plan. It turned out alright I guess...**

**Oh, and today Black and White is coming out, but I forgot to put it on reserve... soo... I'm screwed. Wahh! I have to wait like... I don't know... days, weeks, months to get it. Gah, me and my forgetfulness. I knew there was something I forgot. Dammit.**

**Please Review! xD**

**Wishing that I had put the Black & White game on reserve,**

**Lily ):**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: I apologize for the lack of updates but I made this one fluffy and sweet to make up for it. You can go thank _Luxray-405_ for getting me off my lazy butt and writing this story. x3**

**I really have no real excuse whatsoever but I honestly have been unable to write for some time. I don't know what happened, but I lost my ability to write for some time. It wasn't writer's block... it's something weird that prevents me from writing. That, and I have no time.**

**And if you didn't notice, I changed my pen-name... so yeah.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 9**

* * *

Dawn woke up to the sound of idiotic boys screaming and laughing in the living room. She honestly did not know why they decided to be annoying in _her _living room. Although, it was to be expected of them. They probably did it purposely to annoy her.

She groaned and placed a pillow over her ears in hope of shielding the sounds from her ears. Trying to go back to sleep, the said boys made their grand entrance into her room (unknowingly to her) by grabbing her arms and legs and lifting her from her bed, swinging her like a hammock. Lucas took her arms and Kenny and Barry took her foot.

"Mom" Lucas began, swinging her towards the left.

Barry continued, "Wants."

"You," Kenny chimed.

"To."

"Wake."

"Up."

"And."

"Get."

"Ready."

The three idiots decided to alternatively swing her around and simultaneously told her her mom's request. Of course, she yelped when all three of them dropped her when the finished their speech. She opened her eyes and found herself sprawled on the floor of her bedroom. She glared at the boys as they all smiled deviously. "That sounds rehearsed. How many other innocent lives did you take by doing so?"

Kenny smirked mischievously. "How did you find out our secret so quickly?"

At the same time, Barry looked at her with a disappointed look and asked, "Sadly, none because you're still here."

That earned him a slap from both Kenny and Lucas. "Ouch! I know that you two love her to pieces and everything but I don't think it was necessary."

Lucas said nothing and turned to Dawn. "You and Kenny are to help Mom in the kitchen today, 'member?"

She nodded. As he walked out the door, she called out, "What are you and Barry up to today?"

"We're setting up the stages," Barry responded as Lucas went to far to hear his sister's voice. "And picking on helpless lil' girls like you." He then added afterwards before disappearing into the halls (he also ran into the door frame before getting out but Dawn ignored that too). "It'll be a million dollar fine you if you're late!"

Again, she nodded, ignoring the second part to his statement, and pushed Kenny out the door. "I need to change, so scram. Unless-" she smiled at him teasingly.

"S-S-Sorry! I-I uhhh... I-I'll go n-nooow," he stammered in a silent voice running out as fast as he could. She could have sworn his face was redder than the tomato plants that were in her mom's garden. She grinned to herself, blushing a bit as well as she did her hair and changed into clothes that would've suited her for the day. She had a feeling that today was going to be super special. Special clothes for special occasions. She came down in an hour or so after taking a shower and making sure her hair was perfect.

After thinking about the early morning encounter of her best friend, her brother, and her brother's best friend, she realized one thing: Kenny seems different today.

* * *

By the time she arrived downstairs, Barry and Lucas had evacuated the house a long time ago and Kenny was busy mixing the batter for something. Her mom was out of sight and so was Kenny's mom, who had also promised to help with desserts and food for the next day. She looked at him as he stirred the batter with a mix of determination and carefulness that made her laugh. It looked as if he was trying to beat the poor thing up into multiple pieces.

She looked at him with careful eyes and could not help but smile during the process. Some time during the 'careful observing' phase did Kenny look up at her with a quick grin and asked her, "Are you going to stare at me all day or help me with this?"

His words interrupted her thoughts and it took her a while to register his words. She flushed in embarrassment and trudged over to him. "I'll start with the fruit tart." She went over to the sink and grabbed the essential materials needed.

She set her materials near Kenny and went to work. She found herself looking sideways at Kenny from time to time. Feeling a bit awkward, she decided to start a conversation with him. "So do you know where Lucas and Barry went?"

"Didn't you ask the same question this morning?" he raised an eyebrow at her, pausing his work for a second or so. She, again, flushed in embarrassment. _Good going, _she scolded herself.

"O-Oh! Did I?" She laughed nervously. "Because w-what I meant to say was where did my mom go." _Smoooooth._

Kenny looked at her strangely before responding, "Oh, she went my moms are going to be cooking the course dishes at my place. Meanwhile, we are to make the dessert."

Dawn watched as he went back to his work, concentrating on the batter.

She placed her bowl down and moved onto the whipped cream for the strawberry short cake Kenny was working on. Unsure on why she was disappointed, she stared at the whipped cream. It took a while for her to realize that her expectations for the day were not lived up to and that things were completely different than she had planned it to be.

She had planned to be cooking with Kenny's mom, Kenny, and her own mom in this kitchen and they (Kenny and her) would be secretly messing around and joking when the other adults weren't looking. She never would've imagined a scenario where it was just Kenny and herself cooking in the kitchen in complete silence and awkwardness. She had no idea why it was so awkward being around Kenny anymore; it was so easy to be around him when they were still little. It was so easy to be around him before their journeys began... but now... it's just plain awkward. She could feel the awkward bugs tingling in the atmosphere.

After four batches of cupcakes, three awkward bugs, two shortcakes, one fruit tart, and a very long afternoon (with very little conversation), Kenny and Dawn placed the finishing results onto the counter. Dawn admired all of them from afar and stared at them. "Wow! They look good enough to eat!"

"Well, they're _supposed_ to look good enough to eat," Kenny pointed out, clearing looking amused.

Dawn waved a hand in the air as if to dismiss his statement. "Yeah, whatever Kenny. Don't ruin my fantasy." She sighed and leaned against the cabinet. "I'm _exhausted. _I forgot how tiring cooking could be sometimes."

"Dee-Dee, we can't rest yet. We still need the icing on the cakes." Kenny wiped his hands on the nearby towel and placed it onto the counter. "And not to mention, we need to clean up," Dawn groaned at this, "and pay Lucas and Barry a visit to see if they need help."

She didn't pay any attention to her beloved nickname, for she was too tired to notice anything; instead she pouted sticking her bottom lip out. "Do we have to," she wined like a child with a tantrum.

Kenny smiled as if he suddenly remembering something happy. "Now, help me with the icing, 'kay?"

She nodded in agreement. "Mhmm! But I'm decorating!"

"Alright," he complied. For the shortcake, she placed the strawberries around the edge and added a couple sprinkles along the four sides. She stepped back to admire her work. Kenny-who was trying to spread icing on the cupcakes-accidentally brushed her hand. She flinched at the contact and jerked her hand sideways, ramming it into the cake. She took her hand out and stared at it for a while before she realized what had happened.

Kenny looked over her way while she exclaimed loudly, "NO! Kenny, I messed up the cake. Sorry-"

"It's my fault I bumped your hand. It doesn't look bad. If we fill it up with enough icing, nobody will notice it_. _It wouldn't be as obvious," he said, going back to work.

However, she knew that it was not his fault. Something happened when he brushed her hand against hers. She couldn't explain it, but she could have sworn there were sparks involved. It was not something she experienced before. The thought of his hand brushing hers brought blood rushing to her cheeks at a rapid pace. She had to mentally slap herself to get back to work and fix the cake. She wiped the icing off of her hand and repeated the line, over and over, in her head to regain her composure, '_All he did was touch my hand slightly. It's nothing. Calm down. Calm down. It's not like he kissed you or anything. Now, I need to fix the cake...' _

Taking Kenny's suggestion into mind, she grabbed the icing from his hands and yanked it-a bit too hard-and the most remaining icing flew onto Kenny. Dawn gasped and apologized swiftly. Kenny didn't seem to mind it much, he was smiling as if he was entertained at the sight. "It's alright, Dee-Dee. Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?"

"No, I'm not. I messed up _everything. _I'm sorry, Kenny," Dawn muttered under her breath.

Kenny brought his hand up to his cheek in attempt to remove the icing from his face. He flicked some of it in Dawn's direction, immediately gaining her attention. It landed on her hair and her left shoulder. Dawn yelped as Kenny grinned, leaving the hole-in-the-cake long forgotten.

"KENNY!" she yelled, immediately forgetting about her earlier mistakes. He simply laughed as Dawn attempted to get rid of it.

He smiled and stuck his tongue out, "Pay-back."

"How immature," she responded, grabbing a hold of the bowl of icing and smeared some more on his face.

Laughing at her tactics, he attempted to lick the icing off his face. "Yeah Dee-Dee, real mature."

Dawn looked around the room and groaned. "We have to clean this mess up quickly."

"Right, you are."

* * *

"Lucas, help me with this! I think the rug is going to collapse on me!" Barry exclaimed in a worried tone. "I'm going to fine you if it does..."

The said boy rolled his eyes at his best friend, "Stop exaggerating. But if it's too heavy, then let it collapse on you because I'm busy."

"Busy doing what? Talking to your boyfriend?" Barry countered, smirking when he saw Lucas' shocked expression.

Lucas huffed in a dignified manner. "For your information, I'm talking to Professor Rowan, and I would appreciate it if you allowed me to do so... in peace."

"You've been talking to him for an hour already," he complained.

"Don't be ridiculous Barry, I've only talked to him for five minutes." But five minutes was more than Barry can take. He needed entertainment and help. He did not want to be doing everything by himself.

Barry shifted the rug onto his shoulders and carried it backstage with ease. He set it down and looked in Lucas' direction. Lucas was absorbed in the conversation, not paying any attention to him at all. He sighed, trying to get the attention of Lucas, who was, for a full hour already, talking to Professor Rowan about Arceus knows what. Barry didn't like working alone. The other boy who was working with him-Bradley-ditched the job for ice-cream, and right now, he couldn't blame the boy.

"I swear, if you don't come and help me now, I'm going to go over there and hit you with this rolled up rug," Barry stated. He received no response from Lucas. He muttered something under his breath and looked at Lucas again. Absentmindedly, he walked right off the side of the stage and tripped on the bottom step, tumbling into a bunch of boxes. He groaned and muttered, "Well surprise surprise, Lucas still isn't noticing."

He got up to hang up the banner across the stage. "I'll get him back," he promised to himself. The banner was still in his hands when he unrolled it purposely to hit Lucas across the back and sent him tumbling forward. He caught himself before he hit the ground and turned around to glare at Barry. "What the heck was that for?"

Barry shrugged innocently. "Whoops, I'm sorry Lucas. My bad."

However, by now, Lucas already went back to his conversation with Professor Rowan. Barry breathed out heavily and suddenly thought of something that Lucas would care more about than his own life. "Aye Lucas, what do you suspect Dawn and Kenny are doing right now?" he inquired with a suggestive tone. "You don't think that they'd do anything while they're at home by themselves do you?"

In a quick second, he bid Professor Rowan farewell because "something important came up and he had to go" and brought his attention to Barry. Barry smiled smugly, knowing that it would catch Lucas' attention.

"Don't be ridiculous Barry. They wouldn't do anything!" Lucas said, defending his sister. "Besides, there are other adults in the house."

He shrugged, "You never know. They could've left the house long ago and they could be at home alone, doing who know what. Now hang this banner, set up the chairs, and we can go home and find out."

"Alright!" And Barry had never seen Lucas move so fast in his entire life than he had in the next few minutes.

* * *

"We're finally done! Thank goodness," Dawn said in a relieved tone.

Kenny nodded in agreement; his attention was quickly diverted to her face. "Dawn, you have something on your nose."

"W-What? Where?"

Dawn promptly lifted her arm and tried to wipe it off but Kenny swiftly grabbed her wrists and set them down. "Here, let me do it," he offered, moving closer to her. He used the corner of his sleeve to dab the side of her nose. When he was done, he was unable to breathe because of the close proximity between himself and Dawn. She seemed to have noticed this too because she glanced upward and looked into his eyes, not making any motion to move backward or away from him.

Leisurely, he moved his face, closer to hers, attempting to capture her lips with his. He wanted to give her enough time to turn her head or back away from him if she didn't want him to kiss her, but she seemed to have stayed exactly where she was. Now, he could hear her breathing in and out rapidly and as he came closer, he felt his heart skip a couple of beats. Before his mouth came into contact with hers, he heard the sound of a door slamming. Startled, Dawn slipped in attempt to move backward. She grabbed onto the closest thing to her, which happened to be Kenny, and dragged him down with her.

They both fell onto the floor, unharmed. Kenny landed on top of her but caught himself with his elbows to avoid crushing Dawn with an extra impact.

He mentally cursed at his luck, but blushed, remembering what had happened before. He had no idea what possessed him to do so and mentally slapped himself for being so stupid. Maybe it was one of those 'stuck in the moment' kind of things but he scolded himself for almost kissing her. He was fully aware of his feelings for her but he didn't want to force it upon her yet. Maybe later...

"What the heck?" a masculine voice exclaimed.

At the same time, another voice proclaimed, "I told you they'd be doing something mischievous!"

The voices of Barry and Lucas snapped him out of his reverie and he realized that he was still on top of Dawn. He jumped off of Dawn and helped her up, probably blushing more than he should be. Embarrassed to be caught in such a state in front of Dawn's elder brother (well technically, he wasn't really any older than Dawn was but still...) and his friend, his hand jumped to his hair and started tugging onto it absentmindedly. "Uhh..."

"W-Well y-o-ou see-e," Dawn stuttered, clearly even more distressed and in a worst composure than he was, "w-w-e-eeee were just um-" She twiddled with her fingers, trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.

Barry laughed at her attempt at clarification. "I would ask what happened, but you two seem to be too red to say anything that I might understand." Lucas just looked as the scene unraveled itself.

"You and Kenny did a great job on the sweets," Lucas said, eyeing all the desserts that were placed on the counter. "They really look delicious." Barry agreed with a nod, drooling over all the food that was placed on the table.

Kenny finally regained his ability to speak again. "I thought you guys weren't going to get back for another half an hour."

"A kid named Bradley decided to finish everything up for us since he felt bad for ditching us for ice-cream," Lucas answered, since Barry was still occupied with admiring the sweets.

However, he was still able to grunt, "Yeah, and Lucas wanted to rush home right away after he found out that-" Barry was unable to finish his statement because Lucas harshly slapped his hand over his mouth.

"Nothing... nothing at all," he said, trying to make it as casually as possible. His attempt made Dawn chuckle in amusement.

Another voice interrupted their conversation, making some jump in surprise, "Well! You guys certainly did a great job with the desserts!" Johanna exclaimed, walking into the kitchen and setting her purse onto the counter beside the cakes.

"Thanks Mom."

Dawn smacked her brother's arm. "You didn't even do anything!" Lucas just looked at her gave her a cheeky grin. Kenny and Barry just laughed at their childish behavior. Their 'perfect' moment was ruined by a single question from Johanna.

"Uh, Dawn... why is there a huge hole on the side of this one cake?"

* * *

**Oh gosh. I forgot how much fun writing this story is. It brings a smile to my face writing out the scenes and coming up with ridiculous scenarios. xD I especially like writing about Barry's clumsiness and weirdness because he reminds me of myself. Hehehe. (;**

**Confession: I do not know how to cook at all (nor have I ever been in a kitchen long enough to learn), so I hope the cooking scenes seem realistic. -shame on me-**

**Welp, review? :D Oh, does my writing style look different, or is it still the same? My writing feels awkward when it comes to this story... hmm.**

**Ss this enough fluff do you guise want more? [; There's two more chapters of this story, and I'm going to add a whole bunch of fluff in both of them.**

**Feeling guilty for the late update,**

**Lily.**


	11. Chapter 10

**Another update! (: Well this one didn't take as long as last time... I'm sorry for the lack of updates and I'm glad you guys stuck with me for so long. This is going to be the penultimate chapter; I can't believe it's coming to an end so soon.**

**Right now, I should definitely be working homework and stuffs. Merlin knows I have more than I can handle right now, but it wouldn't feel right abandoning this fic for so long again. I have so much exams coming up, so... it's definitely going to be a while before I can update. It may be until my summer break, but who knows? (:**

**EDIT: I am SO sorry for the lack of updates these past four months. If you guys thought that this was a new chapter, then I'm sorry to inform you that it is not. It is simply me trying to change all the chapters and the order and whatnot. Expect an update sometime before this year ends... hopefully. xD**

* * *

~ **Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 10**

* * *

For most people, the start of the festival brought many cheerful children smiling and many energetic people excited for this one event. After months of preparations, everyone was anticipating for this event to go through and be over with. It was filled with vivacious activity.

For Kenny, it was _the _day. It was the day he was going to confess, since quite frankly, he did not enjoy this feeling of pondering upon 'what-ifs' and any other possibilities. He was going to get it done as soon as possible. Even with the risk of ruining their friendship, he simply could not stand there wondering about what would happen if he had not confessed earlier. It would hurt even more, he reckoned. He was going to do it, and he was going to do it today.

The problem was, he didn't know_ how_.

* * *

"Ow!"

A piercing voice made its way to Dawn's ears, bringing her out of her reverie. Startled, she woke up, feeling tired and weary. She opened her large blue eyes, immediately feeling the scensation of the wondrous sunlight blinding her vision. Adjusting her eyes with a couple of blinks, she looked around to see her mom clutching her foot in agony, hopping around her room like a child full of energy. Johanna, still screeching in pain, set herself on Lucas's bed and sat down, holding her leg towards her, cradling it gently.

"What _happened_?" Dawn inquired, yawning pointedly. She clearly was not pleased with her mom's attempts to wake her up this early in the morning.

* * *

The beginning of the festival brought chaos to their household. Johanna, Dawn, and Lucas spent most of their days running around town, in and out of their houses, and up and down hills in order to check up on everything and made sure everything was alright.

"I'll be glad when this is all over," Dawn sighed. At first she was looking forward to everything that was about to come up with the following event, except with all the work that was involved, she wasn't sure if the whole thing was even worth it.

Lucas, too, was thinking along those lines. With a quick nod, Lucas ran out the door to bring a box filled with confetti to the center of town. However, he ran into Barry when he reached the front porch and knocked him down the steps leading up to their home.

With a grunt and a feeble smile, Dawn stood there, amused at the whole scene. She made no effort to ask them if they were alright, for she knew the two boys had endured much more before. Plus, she was beyond exhausted and was barely able to take in the scene before her. Her brain took longer to progress things than usual, and she blamed it all on the preparations of the blasted festival.

A few days prior, she couldn't wait for the start of the festival. Now, she couldn't help but wishing it would be over with.

* * *

Lucas spent the day running between Town Square, to his house, to Barry's house, and to the market the entire morning. In addition to that, Professor Rowan had recently came across a problem in the lab and rang Lucas one time too many in the mist of running his errands.

There wasn't possibly anybody busier than he was at the moment, and he had never felt so lucky to be able to multi-task so easily.

He ran across the pavement, heaving feebly. He stopped abruptly, looking into one of the houses on the street, windows wide open without a curtain in sight. Envious of everybody who was able to sleep in and not stress about anything, he suddenly blamed his mom for wanting to take responsibility for organizing the festival and putting the pressure upon _his _shoulders. Dawn didn't have to do anything because she was younger (even if it was a couple minutes) and she was a girl. He picked up into a run again and a thought ran through his head. It was probably the only thing he was quite certain of since he woke up this morning.

_A week was definitely not long enough to plan a festival._

* * *

Kenny was not sure when he fell in love with Dawn.

Yeah, he was in love with her. Although it took him a while to admit, it seems so natural for the words to glide through his brain and thoughts. He hasn't said it out loud yet, but he wants to. He wants to say it in front of her first in fear that someone might overhear. Kenny was not paranoid. No, but he wanted to tell her first. He wanted her to be the first to know, despite the hints that he has been dropping in front of onlooking passersby.

He was pretty sure it wasn't among the first, second, third, fourth, or fifth time they've met. It started off as friends at first. Then, it grew into best friends and into an infatuation. After that, it was just rivals and distant strangers. However, he knew that it as some time in between their time apart that he finally realized the things he felt for Dawn. It was more than just friendship and it was much more than just an infatuation.

Now, it was more of an accepted fact to him. He was only wishing, now, that Dawn would accept this fact too... and maybe return it as well. He wanted to confess in an organized manner. He did not know how to even approach a subject such as this, for he was never put in a position where he had to confess anything like this. Even so, he knew that rehearsing this would not be right. Neither would it go the way he wanted to go anyways. All of his planned proportions have ended inadequately; but then again, all of his unplanned proportions also ended inadequately.

* * *

Seven o' clock arrived like a ghost sneaking up upon its victim, except for the fact that the result of all of that is much more pleasant. The sound of wondrous music rang throughout everyone's eardrums, beating into their souls with open spirit.

Kenny was a nervous bunch, standing by the light post he told Dawn he'd wait for her at. However, as he stood there with Barry, he couldn't be any more nervous than he already was.

He wanted to do it today, as soon as possible really, but the thought of talking with Dawn in front of him, looking at him with those pretty blue eyes of her, terrified him more than ever. He was more scared than the time he accidentally broke Dawn's favorite lamp. He fiddled with the helm of his shirt, twiddling with it using two fingers.

After the many excuses he had come up with over the past few years, he never planned on acting upon his feelings. Now, it was different. He was no longer afraid of the things he used to be afraid of.

Before, he remembered that his main fear was that confessing or any attempts at a romantic relationship with her would ruin their friendship. He knew that that was not true. Dawn would stick with him no matter what; he_ knew_ she would. If she doesn't stick with him, their friendship wouldn't be as true as he thought. Because no matter what, she had once promised him, she would always be besides him... through everything.

Not only that, Kenny was to the point where being _just friends _wouldn't cut it. It couldn't cut it. He wanted to be so much more than just friends. He would go crazy if he did not tell her the truth one day. He liked his sanity, and after all these years of being a coward, it was time to step up.

He was tired of pushing her away too. These past few days have proved that pushing her away proved to be harder than he thought. It broke his heart to know that he was the cause of the discomfort and pain in Dawn's life because he didn't want to get hurt. He was originally jealous, but it was selfish of him if he pushed her away because of it. He owed her that, as well, for pushing her away in hopes of getting over her.

A large crash interrupted his deliberation and dragged him back to reality. His neck snapped over to the left, finding a fallen figure on the ground, withering in pain and sprawled against the floor.

He shock his head, staring back at the fallen figure to realize that it was Barry. He rolled his eyes before his lips parted to ask Barry if he was alright.

A nervous laughter emitted from Barry's throat, quickly followed by a grunt. And with that, Kenny grabbed his arm and pulled him back to his feet with a questioned stare.

"I'm an impatient person," Barry managed to say. Any further attempts of explaining drowned as Lucas and Dawn made the scene. Lucas and Dawn were in a heated debate, quickly capturing the attention of Kenny and Barry. Barry was quite amused, while Kenny wasn't exactly sure what to make of the situation.

As his eyes met hers, he felt his heart flutter gently against his heart and his heartbeat slowly increasing. He wasn't sure why, but he knew that he had never felt something like this before. He felt content and pleased, although nothing extraordinarily really happened. Dawn's presence was enough to send him flying to the moon and back, and he wasn't sure why. He was just aware that he liked her, but he had no idea liking someone could leave such a wonderful imprint in his heart. Although, at times, he positively hated what this feeling did to him. And he absolutely hated how much this affected him as an individual. It was absolutely frustrating, but it was the best feeling in the world-being in love.

Her outfit that day was certainly not helping his nerves one bit. She looked so _pretty_ (not that she ever looked anything otherwise, of course).

"Kenny?" She poked him, after not receiving an answer to her inquiry.

His retrieve was interrupted as his attention quickly snapped to her. "W-What? Sorry. I was just... thinking." It was not the complete truth, but it was not a lie either. He wasn't sure what he was doing, but it was thinking that he had just finished doing.

"C'mon, Kenny. I want to go to the snack stands before they run out of food," Dawn urged, tugging on Kenny's sleeve.

He protested indulgently, "There's a whole bunch of food left; I doubt that they're going to run out of food." He glanced towards Lucas and Barry, both in whom were engaged in deep conversation. They payed no attention to him like he had desired. The last thing he wanted to do to his bundle of nerves was to spend the day alone with Dawn. Cowardly... that's what it was.

The tugging commenced tightly as her fingers curled around his wrist, attempting to drag him away from the other boys. "They will; I just know it will. And when it does, I'm going to blame people like you," Dawn replied teasingly.

Kenny, however, was puzzled. "People like me," he echoed softly.

"Yeah. People like you who eat endlessly without sharing with others."

While trying to comprehend her latest comment, she took off with a smile playing on her features.

"W-Wh... H-Hey!" he exclaimed, pretending to be insulted. "I _do_ share." However, she left before fully hearing his arguments.

Skipping off happily, his eyes adverted themselves towards Barry and Lucas again. This time, Barry glanced his way during Lucas's monologue about whatever it was they were talking about; he grinned cheekily at Kenny, winking in the process. Even though it wasn't much, it gave him some sort of assurance to go after Dawn. Kenny made a quick motion with his hands in appreciating before chasing after the cheerful girl skipping in her floral dress and thin jacket.

"Oi Dawn. Wait up."

* * *

"Are you going to share any of that with me?" Dawn pouted, attempting to snatch the slice of cake from Kenny's hand.

He quickly shoved the plate above his head, smirking slightly. "Nope."

"B-But sharing is caring!" she pouted, frowning slightly.

Kenny shook his head absentmindedly, letting a slight chuckle escape his throat. "Fine, I'll give you some of my cake if you give me something in return."

Dawn nodded eagerly, jumping up to snatch the plate from Kenny's outstretched hands. He moved it away from her reach again, grinning again. "Aren't you going to ask what I want?"

In response, she rolled her eyes at him. Muttering something under her breath, she questioned, "What do you want?"

"I dunno."

"If you're going to play that way, this is going to be _such_ a long night."

"I don't really mind."

* * *

"Do you _really_ think anything will happen between those two?" Barry asked, glancing quickly at their retreating figures.

Lucas laughed loudly, as if Barry just made an absurd statement. "Do _you_ really think that something's going to happen? Seriously... those two are blind and annoyingly oblivious to each other's feelings. It's not even funny anymore."

"You too? I thought I was the only one."

He scoffed, "You're definitely not the only one. If they don't get together by the end of the night, I don't know what I'm going to do about those two. I heard Kenny was going to make a move today..." his voice trailed of in wonder. "If he doesn't though, I doubt their relationship is going to go anywhere soon."

Barry nodded in reply, getting distracted by the balloons that have escaped their post. "I just wish-wait Barry, what are you _doing_?"

"I see food! Come on, Lucas!"

Lucas responded by rolling his eyes and sighing loudly. "When will you_ grow up_?" However, he didn't protest to his outburst and followed Barry to the food stands.

* * *

"Kennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnny..."

"What?" He looked at her innocently, running around with another plate in his hand.

She glared at him as she attempted to reach the plates in his hand. "Now you're being unfair. That is _mine_. You can't just take my things!"

"Really," he responded sarcastically. "You seem to take off with my things all the time when we were younger. And you never asked either."

"That was such a long time ago... I promise I won't do it anymore, if you give me back that slice of cake!"

Kenny looked like he would rethink his options in his head, mentally checking off things that sound suitable to accomplish and crossing out things that didn't seem fun to do. He took a deep breath and looked at Dawn in the eye. "I will return your slice of cake if you promise to hear me out... just this once."

"W-What's going on, Kenny?"

And his voice suddenly sounded serious, unlike the joking tone he was using with her moments before. "I think it's about time that I told you certain things that I have been hiding from you for so many years."

* * *

**-insert nervous laughter here-**

**Well a year and a half ago, when I was first planning this story out in my head, I knew exactly how it was going to end and I had Kenny's confession all mapped out in my head.**

**And after a year of stress, one can only expect that it has all disappeared from my head.**

**So... the ending may be rough, but I'll try my best to remember.**

**Anyways, that was just a head's up in case the ending sucks.**

**Please review. You guys won't have to deal with me for much longer. I'm going to disappear after this story... most likely. I may/may not post something else Penguinshipping related. This may be my last Penguinshipping story. I know I'll definitely write more Pokemon stories in general, but not to this particular section.**

**And I may shift to other variety of subjects to write about... any requests? (;**

**Requests for stories to write can be done via Tumblr (found on my profile). **

**Review, yeah? (:**

**Lily. xD**


	12. Chapter 11

**Hey guys~! This is still Lily. I have _not _died, if that's what you were wondering... I just decided not to update for a year and a half... again. I am _such_ a horrible person, I'm sorry.**

**If you guys haven't already noticed, then I changed all the chapters around a bit... so yeah. (: And sorry for the false alarm. I promise this is the actual chapter this time! :D**

**And this is officially the final installment of Best Friends Forever. I honestly had a great and wonderful time writing this story within a time period of two years, and I want to thank all of you for sticking with me until the very end. Without you guys, I would've given up on this story a long time ago. I know that I have learned a lot throughout this year-and-a-half time period and I know that my writing has changed drastically because of this... and I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing this. Enjoy the last chapter guys~!**

**I want to shout out to_ Amulet Misty_, for being there from the very beginning ****and reviewing every single chapter of this fanfiction. That means a lot to me in so many ways, and I can't stress enough how much I want to thank you for that. Your commentary has kept me going this far, and I thank you for that. Therefore, I am dedicating this chapter to you. ****And so... if you guys are looking for a Penguinshipping fanfic to read after this one, you should check hers out. It's absolutely amazing. (;**

**And of course, thank you to every single one of you that reviewed (or just read my story in general), for your reviews are the only reason why I even bothered with this story, despite how much fun it has brought me throughout these past two years. I love you all.**

* * *

**~ Best Friends Forever ~**

**Chapter 11**

* * *

Kenny gulped rather loudly, hoping inwardly that Dawn had not heard. He had no idea what had possessed him to say that. However, in his mind, he was relieved, knowing that if his subconscious hadn't spoken up, he never would've picked up the courage to do anything.

Now, standing in front of Dawn and reeling through all the rehearsing in his mind, he found himself unable to talk or form words with his mouth. This was absolutely _ridiculous_.

His mouth grew dry. He did not know what to say as he rather blurted those words out irrationally. "What was it that you needed to tell me?"

The tension between them was so intense that the cake was long forgotten and abandoned. He had to come up with a good excuse to get out of this situation... and quickly.

"Uh... my mom's calling. It was nothing—important. Yeah, nothing important. I'll tell you later. I gotta go before my mom gets mad," Kenny ranted, dashing off before Dawn had a chance to protest or question his motives further.

"Wait Kenny! I didn't hear her say anything though," Dawn tried to yell after his retreating form but he was long gone. He hadn't given her any signs that he had heard anything she said though.

* * *

Barry groaned. Kenny was so close to confessing, but rather unfortunately, he managed to find a way out of doing it—again. Lucas, who was standing besides him, was losing his patience as well. This was so frustrating. They both liked each other more than they should, but neither refuse to do anything about it.

Dawn was too afraid to ruin their friendship, and Kenny was a downright coward.

* * *

"Mom! Mom! Mom!" Kenny hollered, trying to find her in a crowd full of people. Looking around frantically, he hadn't noticed that he ran straight into her, nearly knocking her over. "Sorry," he apologized profusely.

"Now why the rush?" His mom looked down at him fondly, running her hand through his hair. "Are you running away from your problems again?"

Kenny sighed notably and nodded. "This time, I guess you can use the term quite literally."

While his mom was staring at him, his thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Barry a couple days ago. Barry had convinced him that Dawn felt the same way she had and that she was willing to forgive him for acting like a jerk to her, but now... he wasn't so sure. Dawn was not pleased with his behavior lately. "Kenny, whatever it is that you trying not to do, just remember... there comes a time when you aren't able to do so anymore. And I'd rather you regret telling her how you feel rather than regret not telling her how you feel at all."

"H-How did you know?" Kenny managed to utter.

His mother managed a light chuckle before answering. "The only person who doesn't know is Dawn herself. You make it so obvious, son."

_This was his mom,_ he had to remind himself. And for the first time in such a long time, he no longer felt the need to deny anything. Maybe, it was time to be more straight forward with his feelings. And while standing in front of his mom, he found the perfect opportunity to voice out everything that had been troubling him during the past few months.

* * *

Dawn, confused and bewildered, went around looking for someone she recognized. Kenny just ditched her randomly, claiming that his mom was calling him. She was never one to question their friendship, but she was beginning to wonder if Kenny didn't like her as a friend anymore. That was the only explanation she could think of that would justify his actions.

She let out a sigh as she spot Barry and Lucas in the distance, arguing about something. They looked strangely happy, shoving each other. And looking at the two of them go at each other, she found that for the first time in her life, she rather envied their friendship. They were always fighting or arguing about something playfully, and yet, they remained wonderful friends. It was strange; she had never felt this way before. She was always content with her friendship with Kenny, but the past few weeks have proven her wrong.

Barry and Lucas approached her moments later, bringing her out of her train of thought. She couldn't remember what they had said to her, but she remembered laughing loudly at their comment and walking away wistfully. She couldn't remember why it was that she wanted to go there, but she found herself walking back toward the place where it had all started.

* * *

The leaves crunched under her foot as she maneuvered her way around the forest that led to Lake Verity...

Memories of her first day of nursery school filled her mind as wave of nostalgia hit her in the face. It was when she first met Kenny—It was the start of a brand new friendship that was bound to sprout due to their meeting that one fateful day. She found herself sitting by the grass with Piplup in her lap. Dawn gazed up at the stars above her after looking out at the beautiful lake in front of her, with the moonlight shining brightly over it. It was a beautiful sight, but it wasn't enough to lift her mood about her situation with Kenny.

* * *

After coming to his senses and lecture from his mom, Kenny searched through the entire town for Dawn. Honestly, it _shouldn't _be that hard, seeing as Twinleaf Town was rather tiny. When he returned to the festival, he spotted Lucas and Barry joking to each other, shoving each other playfully.

"Lucas, I'm going to fine you if you don't—"

"Umm," Kenny interjected, "do either of you know where Dawn disappeared to?"

Barry, although annoyed at the interruption, answered, "I think she was heading toward Lake Verity."

"Thanks Barry!" Kenny yelled, taking off immediately.

However, before he could leave, Lucas exclaimed, "Good luck!" He added a wink for good measure as Kenny turned around and gave him a thumbs up.

_Here I go_, Kenny thought before taking off.

* * *

Dawn contemplated on her relationship with Kenny and how far they've come since their first meeting. It had been a fun journey that taught her more than she could ever have imagined. And she reckoned that it must be the same for Kenny, or rather... she hoped it was. Insecurities started rushing out of her due to Kenny's lack of communication with her, and she found herself doubting herself and her friendship with Kenny for the millionth time that week.

"There you are, Dee-Dee!" Kenny exclaimed, panting heavily. He was trying to catch up on his breathing, as he ran all the way there.

Dawn, who had not expected Kenny's arrival, jumped in surprise. "Kenny! You scared me." This time though, she didn't even bother to complain about him calling her Dee-Dee. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking you that; I was looking all over for you."

Dawn smiled sheepishly. "Oops. I just came here to think about things," she responded vaguely.

"What things? Are you alright?" Kenny took a seat next to her and smiled warmly, urging her to go on.

She shrugged. "It's nothing. I've just been getting the feeling that you hate me or something."

"W-What? What did I do? I'm sorry if I—"

"It's alright, Kenny," she shook her head. "It's nothing. No need to worry!"

Kenny faltered a bit, but he took a deep breath and said, "If you tell me what's bothering you, I'll tell you what's bothering me. I promise."

Dawn seemed to think about it for a while before agreeing to his terms. Nodding, she stated, "It's just that we haven't been hanging out as much as we used to, and you don't treat me the same way you used to. Remember when we were younger? We didn't have this much trouble getting along nor did we have any worries. Now I can't help but think that you hate me or something... since you keep running away from me and ignoring me."

"I haven't been ignoring you," Kenny protested lightly. "I'm sorry if I made you feel that way since I have been trying to tell you something for the past month or two, and I haven't found the courage to tell you. But now I will, so I would like it if you didn't interrupt me. It's hard enough as it is."

As she nodded, he continued with his speech. "I know we've known each other for a long time already, and there's nothing that scares me more than putting our friendship at risk because it means the world to me. We've been best friends forever, and I was scared that this would change the way we see each other. But I'm not afraid of this anymore because I learned from you that there are certain risks that are worth taking... and this is one of them," he ranted, sounding more confident than he felt. He took a deep breath and continued.

"I love you, Dawn, and I always have. Maybe it took me forever to realize, but it's been bothering me ever since I found out. I kept using the excuse that I was too afraid to jeopardize our friendship, but that's only partly true. I just couldn't stand it if you didn't return the feelings I had for you, and that you'll never see me the way I see you. I'm just hope that this doesn't change things between us because I want you to be my girlfriend."

Dawn stared blankly at his confession. It took her a while to register what he had just confessed to her. But once she did, she frowned. "Of course things between us will have to change."

"W-What?" Kenny flushed with embarrassment as the words sunk in.

She didn't like him.

She didn't like him the way he liked her.

And he just screwed everything up.

But as Kenny had a mini-panic attack in his head, Dawn continued, "Well I love you too, Kenny, and things will have to change if I'm going to become your girlfriend."

He, who was overjoyed, took her hand in his and pulled her upward, pulling her into a hug. "Thank gosh! Haha. I thought that—I thought that you didn't like me. You scared me, Dee-Dee," returning back to his old pet-name for her.

Her lips twisted into what looked like a tiny smirk. "I've been meaning to tell you that I had feelings for you, but I was too scared to say anything. But regardless of what happens today, tomorrow, or the day after that, we'll be best friends forever, right?"

Kenny nodded and pulled her closer to him, still unable to take in the things she was saying. Therefore, she continued, "I've had a wonderful week, trying to prepare for the festival with you and everything."

Finally finding his voice, Kenny murmured, "It's just too bad we didn't get to spend as much time as I would've liked at the festival."

Threading her fingers into his hair, she inquired in a low voice, "We've still got time to make more memories that will last a lifetime. Plus, do you know what would make my week even better?"

He shook his head nervously, looking into Dawn's mischievous eyes. And without further ado, she pressed her lips against his, mushing their faces together awkwardly.

And even though it was her first kiss, and even though it was awkward, and even though she had no idea what she was doing half the time, and even though she was totally oblivious to her brother and friend sneaking around in the bushes behind her, and even though she was barely aware of anything else but the fact that Kenny's lips were against hers, she wouldn't have it any other way. She had never felt lost in the moment as she was now. And even as the fireworks from the festival started shooting in the sky behind them, they paid no attention to anything else because nothing else mattered since this was just the start to what will come as their journeys continued... together.

* * *

**Aren't you glad that you don't have to wait half a year for updates anymore? ;D I am so proud of myself for finishing this, aren't you?**

**Well I'm sad to say that this is the end-really the end of this FanFic. 'Cause you know... this is my first long-shot that I've ever finished, and I loved writing every moment of this story.**

**I'm going to miss this... updating and writing and getting reviews for this story. I have a Penguinshipping one-shot written in my journal, but if you've been following my Tumblr, you'd know that I've been crying about the loss of it for a while now. Hopefully, I'll find it and post it soon. Otherwise, it'll be a while before I write anything Penguinshipping related again.**

**Thanks again for reading and reviewing and for sticking with me until the very end (ehehe...). I've grown so much as a person and as a writer because of this story, I cannot simply express it in words. So thanks a bunch for allowing me to continue this story for so long.**

**So review for one last time, and I'll update faster, yeah (I hope you know that that's supposed to be a joke because this story's finally over~)?**

**Lily :D**


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